


A Pack United

by Fool_for_love



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Derek Hale & Kira Yukimura Friendship, F/M, Good Friend Mason Hewitt, Good Theo Raeken, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, McCall Pack, Multi, Nemeton, POV Multiple, Pack Dynamics, Past Liam Dunbar/Hayden Romero, Pining, Post-Nogitsune Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Wolf Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27673498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fool_for_love/pseuds/Fool_for_love
Summary: After the events of their senior year, the pack has scattered. Stiles and Scott are off at college, while Liam is running things in Beacon Hills. Things have been quiet, unusually so, until a certain skin walker returns with a message for Scott. A new threat is coming to Beacon Hills, and the only thing that can stop it is the pack. The whole pack. Can they come together in time to save their town yet again?
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Mason Hewitt/Brett Talbot, Scott McCall/Kira Yukimura
Comments: 9
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I guess it makes sense that I'd go back to Teen Wolf given the disaster that is 2020. This story is totally self indulgent. I want the pack back together, and so help me if I have to engineer a situation to make that happen I will do it! This is set post season 6, but in my mind 6b never happened, so I don't reference it in this story. I'm planning to post the next chapter sometime in the next week. I hope you like it, and thanks for reading!

Penciling in the final answer to the final question on his final exam for his Intro to Criminology class, Stiles Stilinski nearly sprinted to the front of the classroom to hand it in. College hadn’t dulled his spastic movements or constant fidgeting- if anything, they had increased. Stiles loved college, he did, it was just weird to not be faced with a supernatural crisis every month or so. After the fiasco that was the Ghost Riders, things had pretty much been calm, and had remained so for nearly a whole year. The fidgeting, the excess energy- Stiles guessed it was just residual, left over from nearly dying and being erased from existence. All of the caffeine he was drinking during finals week probably didn’t help either, to be fair. 

He stepped out into the warm summer air, a slight breeze ruffling through his hair. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. Oh yeah, he wore glasses now. That was new. He thought they made him look cool though. In a dorky sort of way, which of course was all the rage now. He checked his phone. Three missed texts and a missed call from Lydia. He sighed, putting his phone back in his pocket, with a slight twinge of guilt. 

Never, in all the years that he daydreamed about Lydia Martin, would he have believed it if he said he would be ignoring her texts one day. But she could be so.... high maintenance. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known that going into this thing, relationship, whatever. He and Lydia had been friends for years, he thought he was in love with her for longer than they had been friends. It wasn’t like he went into this blind. 

But GOD, it was exhausting. Lydia wanted him to call her at least once a day, if not more, and to be in pretty much constant contact through text. Stiles had ADHD, so his concentration wasn’t the best in the most ideal circumstances. So he was really always disappointing her about the phone calls, since he’d get distracted and forget. And then when they actually got to see each other back in Beacon Hills, during breaks, she would almost immediately run off to see Jordan. It was always something;  _ Jordan has a night shift and needs coffee. Jordan just got off of a night shift and needs to get breakfast so I’m going with him. Jordan and I only hang out while he’s working so we promised each other we’d get dinner when he had the day off.  _ One thing after another. It would likely be happening this whole summer. And somehow Stiles couldn’t really bring himself to care. Maybe that was bad. Ok, it was definitely bad. 

Stiles sighed. What he really needed before dealing with all that was a mega cup of coffee. Preferable with a lot of sugar. Maybe some whipped cream. Just a shit ton of sugar and caffeine. He’d been living off of black coffee the past two weeks, something a little sweeter would hopefully help the stress headache that had been building. Then he guessed he would just go back to his dorm and play some video games or something after calling Lydia. His flight home didn’t leave until tomorrow, and he definitely wouldn’t be packing until the last second. 

He shrugged his backpack more securely onto his shoulders and made his way to his favorite little coffee shop on campus. There was a guy that worked there around this time who was hotter than the coffee he served. Stiles was taken, sure, but there was no harm in looking. Or flirting a little.

The thought had Stiles perking up a bit, a smile forming on his lips, and he picked up the pace. But he didn’t quite make it to the coffee shop. He almost did, he was within sight of it, when something else caught his eye and his mouth dropped open.

Standing on the grass across from the shop was a young woman with her back to him, but he knew that posture and that stance. And if her slight build, combative stance, and long dark hair didn’t give it away, there was always the suspicious outline underneath her jacket, almost as if she was carrying a sword.

Kira turned her face towards Stiles, as if she had sensed him staring. Her face looked... ashy, but it was definitely her. Stiles was in shock. The last place he had seen Kira was in Mexico, which was also the last place he had seen- Shut up Stiles, we don’t think about that- someone else. Scott had been absolutely torn up after Kira had to leave to train with the skin walkers. Stiles had actually had Lydia whip up some kind of wolfsbane whisky that could get Scott drunk. He didn’t think he or any of them would see Kira again, considering that her mother had said the training could take decades. He knew that Scott still had her tail, though- he didn’t think it ever left Scott’s side. 

Kira walked towards him with quick steps, grabbing his arm with surprising strength and dragging him off the sidewalk and next to a building. Up close, it wasn’t just her face that looked ashy. There was dust on her clothes, and her hands were caked in what looked like sand. She even had dark marks on her cheeks, like war paint.

“Stiles. Where’s Scott?” she demanded.

“Hi, Kira, nice to see you too, I’m great, how’s the Mexican desert?” Stiles deadpanned.

She shook her head impatiently, dark hair whipping around her face. “Sorry, I don’t really have time for a catchup right now, as fascinating as I’m sure your life has been recently. Where is Scott? I have a message for him from the skin walkers.”

“Yes, the skin walkers. Right. Which you are one of now? I think? None of us have seen you in over a year so we really don’t know what’s up with you.”

And then Kira, sweet, innocent little Kira, gave Stiles a death glare that made him actually shiver.

“Jeez, ok. Scott isn’t here, he goes to UCLA. Which I’m pretty sure is closer to whatever cave in the desert you live in so I’m not sure why you didn’t go there first,” Stiles said, trying to subtly inch away from her. Not successfully, apparently, if the look she gave him was anything to go by. 

“I knew where you were. Not where Scott was. I was hoping you two would be together. I’ll head to California then.” She spun around, about to walk away.

“Wait what?? That’s it? You’re just gonna head to California. No biggie. Do you even have money for a plane?” Stiles demanded, flabbergasted.

Kira sighed. “I’m not taking a plane. I have other ways to travel now. When do you go back to Beacon Hills?”

“Uh, my flight leaves tomorrow?” The statement came out more like a question, Stiles realized with a wince. How was he intimidated by Kira of all people now? Kira? He’d been out of the supernatural world for too long. 

She shook her head. “That’s too late. You’re going to have to come with me. We have to get everyone back to Beacon Hills as quickly as possible.”

She grabbed his hand and began to drag him off.

“Woah, Kira, can you slow down for two seconds? What the hell is going on?” Stiles’s feet scrabbled on the pavement, but she was a lot stronger than he anticipated, so he was just dragged in a very undignified manner through his college campus. He really hoped the cute barista didn’t see him out of the window. 

“I’m really sorry Stiles, I can’t tell you. I have instructions about the message, it has to go to Scott. Just Scott. But you have to get back to Beacon anyway so I might as well take you with me. Everyone is gonna have to come back.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone. The whole pack. Everyone that’s ever been in the pack. Even those that left. Something’s happening and we need everyone.” Kira said, still pulling Stiles along.

_ Everyone _ , Stiles thought blankly.  _ Everyone who’s left. That meant… _

“Any chance I could get a list of who everyone includes?” he asked weakly.

Kira stuck him with an exasperated look. “Yes, Stiles, we need Derek. And I know where he is. But first, Scott.”

Stiles really didn’t like how easily Kira realized what he was asking, but he didn’t have time to wonder how she figured him out, considering he was still being DRAGGED across campus. Kira finally stopped behind a mostly abandoned dorm building. There was some remodeling happening over the summer, but for now it was empty.

Kira reached behind her back and pulled out a sword. Not her katana, that had been destroyed when the pack pulled Theo out of hell, but one of jet black stone that seemed to glimmer ominously. She raised it above her head and thrust the blade into the earth. Electricity swirled around her, sparks dancing in her hair, and when she opened her eyes they were black. The earth split in two, creating a cavern that reached endlessly down, down, down.

“Well, I guess that explains the dusty clothes” Stiles quipped, a sad attempt at humor.

Kira looked at him and smiled for the first time, a fierce baring of teeth that set his nerves on edge.

“Down we go!” she laughed. she grabbed Stiles’s hand and jumped, pulling him down with her, hand snagging on her sword as they fell.

As they disappeared from view, the chasm snapped closed, cutting off the sound of Stiles’s screams and Kira’s laughter. It was as if nothing had even happened.

***

Scott McCall blinked open sleepy eyes, sunlight hitting his corneas with painful clarity. He sat up slowly and stretched, combing his shaggy hair back with his fingers. He had been so exhausted after finishing up finals the day before that a nap under a sunny tree seemed just about perfect when he was coming back from lunch. He had decided to stick around one extra day after finals- packing up seemed like a chore after his bio exam. Campus was nearly deserted at this point. All of the few peripheral friends he had made had packed up a few days ago. Scott wasn’t a person who had trouble making friends. He had a sunny personality which was endearing to everyone who met him. He just had trouble hiding the biggest part of his life from people- namely, the fact that he was the alpha of a werewolf pack.

It was difficult being away from all of them. The feeling of Pack was something he sorely missed. Sure, he skyped with them (Stiles and Liam especially. Liam needed a LOT of guidance but he was doing surprisingly well as the stand-in Alpha), but it wasn’t the same as being in a room with the Pack, his Pack.

Almost as if in response to this mindless, sleep addled reminiscing, Scott felt the ground beneath him rumbling slightly. He was on his feet at once, all traces of sleep gone from his mind, instincts kicking in. His eyes flashed the pure red of a True Alpha.

From behind him, a strange ripping sound emanated from the ground. Scott whipped around, only to see a hand thrusting itself through the grass, ripping apart the green blades and roots. The hand was covered in dark brown dirt, clutching at the ground around the chasm that was tearing the lawn in half around it. Scott’s eyebrows drew together in alarm. The last time he had seen anything like this was in the desert in Mexico, with Kira and the skin walkers.

An arm followed the hand, then the top of a head, black hair coated with dust, and finally the face that Scott saw in his dreams, that he wasn’t sure he would ever see again, came into view. He stood in shock as Kira pulled herself from the chasm, finally standing in front of him with a black sword in her hand.

“Kira?” Scott asked in a low voice.

She looked, in a word, amazing, despite having crawled out of a hole that for all Scott knew led to hell itself. She was covered in dust, but she seemed to be glowing. The dark paint on her cheeks made her look like some kind of warrior. Their eyes locked and neither looked away, a long moment stretching on and on, until a panicked yell from the chasm interrupted them.

“Kira?? Kira I need help please, I think I just traveled through actual hell and I think if I stay here too much longer Hades is gonna come for me and drag me back down and I really like being able to live on the like, surface. I am way too young and pretty to go to hell right now so could I get a hand here??”

“Stiles?” Scott called, breaking eye contact with Kira and looking at the grass.

“Scott!! Man, you gotta get me out of this hole, Kira was just here but she’s not answering, is she up there?” Stiles called back.

Kira smiled a little half smile and turned around, bending over and reaching a hand down, which Stiles grasped eagerly, yanking him out. As soon as his feet reached the lip of the chasm, the earth rumbled, closing the rip with an abrupt snap, the grass stitching back together seamlessly.

Stiles stumbled, nearly falling over, before Scott reached out a hand and steadied him.

“Oh thank God Scotty, man, please don’t let her near me, she’s gonna take me back down and I can’t do that man, I really can't-” He turned to Kira with an accusing stare. “You are, by far, the biggest asshole I have ever met, Kira Yakimura.”

Kira grinned. “I’ve missed you too, Stiles.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, likewise. But like, seriously, what the hell was that? Did you actually open a portal to hell, or did you drug me and I hallucinated the whole thing?”

“It’s a...” Kira hesitated. “Skin walker thing. Don’t worry about it.”

Scott had been following the conversation like a tennis match, head moving back and forth between Stiles and Kira, and finally settling on Kira, who had been stealing glances at him the whole time.

Stiles was opening and closing his mouth, but no sounds were coming out. “Don’t- don’t worry about it??” He finally exclaimed.

“Stiles, I can explain later. Right now I need to talk to Scott. The message?” Kira prompted.

“Oh, yeah, yeah of course. Fire away,” Stiles said, leaning his elbow against Scott, waiting expectantly.

Kira shot him a look. “Alone, please? I have specific instructions to only talk to Scott.”

Scott nudged him in the side. “There’s a coffee shop around the corner, man. We can meet you there in a bit?”

Stiles was ready to protest, but Scott was giving him those big brown puppy dog eyes that even after years of friendship he still wasn’t able to refuse.

“Fine. But the second you guys are done you have to come fill me in.”

He grumbled as he walked away, slinging his backpack more securely on his shoulders. “stupid mysterious skin walking kitsunes, stupid puppy dog eyes, stupid True Alpha business, stupid....”

After he had rounded the corner and faded from sight, Scott and Kira stood looking at each other, the weight of the past and unsaid words heavy in their gaze.

“Um, so, anyway, I have a-” Kira began, only to be interrupted.

“It’s really good to see you. I missed you.” Scott blurted out, turning bright red.

Kira blushed as well, cheeks turning bright red under the three dark marks that ran down each of them.

“Me too.” She whispered. Then her demeanor turned business-like, and her tone became as if she was reciting a speech. “I have a message from the skinwalkers. They said it was to be delivered to the True Alpha, and only the True Alpha.” she said.

“O-ok.” Scott nodded, crestfallen. “What’s the message?”

Kira took a deep breath, closing her eyes. When they opened again, they were the same obsidian color as her sword, and her voice wasn’t her own.

“ **Danger is coming to Beacon Hills. Danger in the form of Death, of Grief, of Sacrifice, in the form of a Fox. The Fox can only be stopped with Pack, a Pack united, unbroken, led by a True Alpha. Gather the Pack, Alpha** .”

Her voice seemed to reverberate in Scott’s ears. As the last vibration rang out, Kira gasped, her eyes flashing orange, then returning to her usual brown. She nearly collapsed, but steadied herself on her sword. Scott stepped closer, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ok?”

Drawing in a few deep breaths, Kira nodded, leaning into Scott’s hand instinctively. “I’m fine.” She said, straightening up. “Channeling takes a bit of energy. Especially after traveling.”

Scott’s hand hovered close to her shoulder even after she stood, before slowly drawing away. “Kira, what was that? What does any of that mean?”

She shook her head, frustrated. “I don’t know. That’s the first time I’ve heard it. The others said it would be safer for me while I was traveling if I didn’t know the message. That’s why they channeled it through me. Even they don’t know exactly what it means, I think, but they’re worried. We all are.”

Scott nodded resolutely, straightening his shoulders. “Let’s go get Stiles. It sounds like we have to assemble the pack. He’ll know where to start.”

***

Stiles sat at a small corner table in the coffee shop, morosely cradling a large cup of black coffee. His head was pounding, a possible migraine slowly building below his temples. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw flashes of red, spiraling through a dark chasm that seemed like it led through the center of the earth, even though he knew that wasn’t possible. Although the explanation that Kira had literally dragged him through hell wasn’t exactly rational either, but he honestly thought that was what had happened.

“A skin walker thing? What the fuck?” He mumbled under his breath. He was really starting to wish he had his bulletin board and some yarn on him right now. After a whole year of quiet, his brain wasn’t working quite as well without visual representation.

The bell on the door jingled as Scott and Kira walked into the shop. The barista behind the counter called out a cheery hello, eyes lingering a little longer than usual on Kira, but ultimately deciding to ignore it and just get back to work. Any barista on a college campus has definitely seen some shit, Stiles knew. This probably wasn’t even the weirdest of the week. 

Kira looked drained, her drawn face only serving to accentuate the dust and… war paint? Stiles still didn’t know exactly what was on her face. Scott was glancing at her constantly, obviously not wanting to stare, but instead he came off as an anxious hummingbird hovering around her. Stiles waved the two of them over, Kira collapsing in the chair across from him as soon as she reached it, Scott continuing to hover.

“Pull up a chair, Scotty, because I’m jacked up on caffeine and I need some answers ASAP.” Stiles said, waving a hand at Scott in a grandiose gesture. Once Scott sat down, still looking anxiously at Kira, Stiles leaned forward conspiratorially.

Kira looked at Scott and nodded. She looked completely wiped, and even though Stiles was still irritated about the trip through maybe hell, he graciously offered her his coffee. He kind of doubted she had any money on her. She nodded thanks as Scott began to speak.

He retold the message from the skin walkers, and what Kira had told him about how the skin walkers could sense things and even they didn't really know what it meant.

Stiles drummed his fingers against the table restlessly, already deep in thought. His head was spinning.  _ A fox? A fucking fox? There’s no way it's the same one, but still, a fucking fox? _

Out loud, he said, “Well, obviously we have to get the pack together. It says a pack united, unbroken, so... does that mean the original pack? Because some of them are dead and that’s going to be a bit of an issue.”

“If I had to guess, it means all the members of the Pack who are still alive, plus the current members. Like Liam, if he’s still around?” Kira spoke for the first time, a little humor interjected in her voice. She glanced at Scott, who was beaming at the mention of Liam.“ I think to be safe, we need everyone we can find. You guys were around before I was, who’s still around from the beginning?”

“Well, there’s me, Stiles, there’s Lydia, Jackson, Isaac, and obviously Derek.” Scott listed, eyebrows furrowed. “But we don’t know where half of those people are.”

“Actually...” Kira hesitated. “I do know where Derek is. The rest, I'm not sure. But Derek might have an idea. I know he’s important somehow. I think he’s going to play a pivotal role in what’s to come.”

Stiles nodded slowly. “You know where Derek is.” He stated, trying to keep his breathing under control. From the alarmed looks Scott was shooting him, it wasn't going very well.

“Yeah, he’s in Mexico. I ran across him while I was training once.” she shot a quick look at Stiles. “He seemed like he was doing well.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s good. So I guess you’ll do your little “skin walker thing” and go get him?” Stiles said, a little panicked, putting air quotes around the skin walker thing, since Kira had yet to specify what she could actually do. He had specifically not thought about Derek for a long, long time. For all he knew, Derek was dead. When Braeden had shown up that one time, she hadn’t exactly been bursting with information. And now here he was, alive, in Mexico, and “doing well”. And now that Derek was in his head again, Stiles wasn’t sure he was ever going to get him out.

“Actually, Stiles, I can’t get him. I only have enough energy left for one more jump. I need to use that to get to Beacon Hills. We have to multitask on this, I have a really strong feeling we need to move fast. And Beacon Hills is where it's all happening. I need to be there. And Scott has to come with me. You have to find Derek.”

If Stiles thought he was freaking out before, boy oh boy, it was nothing compared to whatever his body was doing right now. Stiles may as well have ascended to another plane of existence. 

“Um, no? No no no. I’m the last person who should do this? Derek never listens to me, why would he come back to Beacon Hills with me? I mean, what am I supposed to do? Show up at his door like ‘hey Derek, long time no see, how would you feel about uprooting your good life here and coming back to Beacon Hills for, what was it? Death, grief, and sacrifice?’ It's not going to work. Someone else has to do it.”

Even just saying Derek’s name left a weird taste in Stiles’s mouth, his lips forming the word like he had never said it before. It tasted like a blueberry that wasn’t quite ripe yet- tart, bittersweet.

Kira smiled sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Stiles, but there’s no one else to do it. It has to be you. We have to get Derek quickly, he might be able to help us find the others. Please?”

For a second she looked like the old Kira, smiling and bubbly and impossible to refuse. She and Scott made a real pair when it came to the puppy dog eyes. He forgot what a deadly combination the two of them were. 

“You can take the Jeep, man. It's yours anyway, and it should come back to Beacon.” Scott interjected.

Stiles looked back and forth between the two of them before turning to Kira. “You really think Derek is important to this? So important that it can’t wait?”

She nodded firmly. “I do. I can’t explain it, but I know. I can feel it. And I know he’s important to... The Pack.” She hesitated, looking at Stiles knowingly. “If we don’t get Derek, I think we are all in big trouble.”

Stiles sighed, and grabbed his coffee from Kira's hand. “Fine. But if I have any trouble, I reserve the right to knock his werewolf ass out with wolfsbane and drag him back.”


	2. Chapter 2

The small, armor plated creature in front of him shuffled along, stopping now and then to paw at the sand. Derek shifted onto his back paws, breath coming in small pants, red eyes tracking the armadillos progress. A shift in the sand alerted the creature to his presence, its head perking up, and Derek took the opportunity to leap before it could react. He jumped over the tall grass he had been hiding in, powerful haunches propelling him farther than any normal wolf could. He found these armadillos an interesting variation from the prey he usually hunted. The armor plates that surrounded them when they rolled into a ball presented a bit of challenge, something he hadn’t found with most of the other wildlife down here in Mexico.

He landed a foot away from the creature, causing it to curl, protecting its soft belly. Derek batted it around with his paws for a while, snuffling at the balled up creature, trying to find a crack in the defenses, before growing bored and leaving it alone. His belly was already full from a kill earlier in the day, and the heat was starting to beat down on him, his black fur stifling.

He turned back and headed towards Home, his pace picking up to a trot. Home wasn’t far away from here, only a couple miles. He would reach it before the heat was unbearable.

Derek spent a lot of time as a wolf these days. When Braeden was around, he was usually not shifted, but after she left to go back to Beacon Hills there wasn't a lot of point in staying human. She had asked him to come back with her, actually. More trouble was afoot in Beacon Hills, she said. There was always trouble in Beacon Hills. But the idea of facing the Pack, some members more than others, was enough to deter him. In Mexico, he was anonymous. He wasn’t Derek Hale, the tragic survivor of the Hale Fire, he wasn’t Scott’s mentor, he wasn’t the former Alpha. He was just Derek.

Braeden, however, had made it very clear that if he didn’t come with her, she wouldn’t be coming back. So Derek let her go. As far as he knew, she hadn’t told any of the pack his location. Otherwise, he felt sure that some of them  _ ( _ Stiles, his mind whispered _ ) _ would have come to find him. As it was, the only member of the Pack he had come across was Kira, and she didn’t smell like Pack anymore. She smelled like fire, and dust, and sand, and something else he couldn’t quite place. So he guessed she wasn’t with the Pack anymore. He cooked her dinner. It was nice. It seemed like she was just as out of practice with other people as he was. 

He reached Home just when the sun was starting to really beat down. He pawed open the door he had left unlocked, and trotted in. Home still smelled slightly of Isaac. Isaac came to visit him every once in a while, making sure he was human and stable, that he shifted back and actually talked. He wasn’t Isaac’s alpha anymore, but Isaac was still his first beta, and he filled the Home with the faintly lingering smell of Pack and oddly enough, what Derek could only describe as warm cookies. The boy, or man, now, was doing well. He had traveled with Chris Argent for a time after Allison’s death, but when Chris went back to Beacon Hills, Isaac had continued to wander. His visits had been increasingly frequent lately, and he smelled sad, and lonely, and regretful for the first day or so whenever he did. 

Derek had thought of asking him to stay a few times, but thought that might be overstepping his boundaries. He was working up to it. 

Home was nice. He lived in a small house, but it was well furnished. He had a lot of books, a nice computer, and good internet. He was close enough to other houses that people knew he existed, and would say hello, but didn’t question when he disappeared for days at a time. It was well furnished, if simply- he had a nice bed, couch, comfortable chairs, etc . It was better than the loft had been. He even had a “den” of sorts where he slept when he was shifted. He was just going to settle in for a nap before nighttime, when he would go out again as the desert cooled down, when he heard the crunching of gravel in the distance. He was on alert immediately. Isaac wouldn't be back for at least a week, and no one else should be driving in at this time. His hackles raised, and he faced the door, ears swiveling to follow the sound of the car.

The wheels slowed, then came to a stop outside Home. The engine was turned off, and the sound of a deep inhale came from the vicinity. Derek slowly advanced on the door as he heard a car door open and slam shut, and footsteps began to crunch through the gravel leading to the front door. He was leaning back on his hind paws, ready to pounce, when he was hit with a scent so strong and so familiar that all instincts but one ran out of his body.

Get to Stiles.

The scent radiating through the door was completely overwhelming. Stiles smelled like coffee grinds, like dust from old, neglected books, like polyester and cotton, and a thousand other things, with a bitterness from medication and stress that left an acrid taste on Derek’s tongue. But woven into all the components that made up the smell of Stiles, there was one underlying thread that Derek had somehow missed all these years.

Stiles smelled like Mate. And Derek’s wolf wanted nothing more than to break down the door that stood between them. He started to move forward.

“ _ NO!! _ ” Derek roared inside his own head. He stopped, and a whine escaped his mouth, too quiet for Stiles to hear on the other side of the door. Derek knew he didn’t have much time before Stiles knocked, and he couldn’t be a wolf when that happened.

Fighting against every instinct he had, Derek forced himself to shift back, bones, muscles, and sinew reforming. He stood up and ran to his room, grabbing the first clothes he saw. When he wasn’t shifted, the scent wasn’t quite as strong, but it was still enough to make his head spin. As he forced his legs into a pair of sweats, Stiles finally worked up the courage to knock on the door. Derek panicked, his breath coming in gasps.

“J-just a minute!” He shouted, his voice rusty from disuse. He threw on a tank top, cursing at it when his arms got tangled. He nearly sprinted to the door, grasping the handle and throwing it open.

His breath rushed out of him and he just stared, green eyes locking with amber. When he finally gathered himself enough to speak, only one word came to mind.

“Stiles.”

***

The Jeep's tires groaned in protest as Stiles turned onto the gravel road that Kira said would lead straight to Derek’s house. She hadn’t been able to give him an exact address, but she had given him a very detailed description of the house and what led up to it. Stiles guessed that her new skin walker traveling abilities didn’t quite work like a GPS.

“I know, baby, I know,” he said absently, patting the wheel of the Jeep. It had been a long drive, and both he and his baby could use a break. Stiles was so amped up though that he didn’t think he would be able to rest at all. He had basically been a bundle of nerves ever since he got in the Jeep, after Kira and Scott had given a cryptic “See you in Beacon,” before Kira opened the portal to hell again, dragging Scott in after her. Stiles grinned, wondering what Scott’s reaction to that trip would be like. Then, of course, his mind shifted back to the subject that he had been thinking about the whole way there. 

All he could think about was Derek. He had been ignoring those memories and...feelings for so long that he didn’t seem to be able to shut off that part of his mind now that it had been reopened. His mind had been racing nonstop. What did Derek look like now? What did Derek do now that he didn’t have a pack of teenage misfits to scowl at? Was Derek happy? Was Derek lonely? Did Derek miss him?

More than anything, he couldn’t stop thinking about the last time he had seen Derek. Watching him climb into the car with Braeden, making brief eye contact with him in the mirror as the car started and drove off, kicking up dust behind it. Never getting the chance to say that... what? That he was glad he was alive? He had imagined the scenario in his head thousands of times, but he could never quite get the words right. Nothing quite seemed to sum up the complicated relationship the two of them had over the years.

As he rounded a corner, he saw the house. It looked nice. Simple, small, but cozy. And it was situated just right that it wasn’t too close to any neighbors. Derek didn’t like to have people poking in his business, since most of that business was secret werewolf stuff.

Stiles pulled up next to the house, shutting off the car and sitting for a moment. His heart was about to pound out of his chest. He had been calmer when facing certain death before.

He slowly got out of the car, slamming the door behind him a little more aggressively than necessary. Reaching the front door, he was about to knock when he heard a faint whine from inside the house. He paused, fist still raised, ears straining, and he heard some banging, and something that sounded like someone tripped? He brought his fist down hesitantly. If Derek was here, he would already know that someone was at the door.

“J-just a minute!” Derek’s voice rang out. His voice struck a chord somewhere deep in Stiles, and he was hit with an overwhelming amount of emotion. Derek’s voice sounded rusty, like it hadn’t been used in a while. How long had it been since he spoke to someone? Stiles found himself overcome with the urge to burst in and make sure Derek was ok. His instinct to protect a six foot tall, supernaturally strong and muscular werewolf was a little concerning.

He heard footsteps quickly advancing towards the door, and it swung open, and Stiles found himself face to face with the man he hadn’t seen in over a year.

“Stiles.” Derek said, his voice cracking. Stiles was, for once in his life, rendered speechless. Derek looked exactly how he remembered him. He was dressed in old sweats and a black tank top, and his beard was thicker, but he was the same Derek. The same Derek who visited Stiles’s dreams, no matter how much he tried to block him out.

Of course, being Stiles, his speechlessness didn’t last too long.

“Derek, hey, what's up man? Er, I guess that’s a weird way to start off, how’ve you been? I definitely didn’t like stalk you to find out where you were or anything, Kira sent me here and she knows where you are because of skin walker stuff or something, in case you were worried, but anyway I’m here now and I gotta talk to you-” Stiles babbled.

Derek’s eyebrows had slowly started to turn upwards in amusement and confusion, an expression Stiles remembered vividly because it was a favorite of Derek’s whenever they were around each other. But something was still off in his expression. He was staring at Stiles in a way that was... different, than he remembered.

“Do you want to come in?” Derek interrupted. He gestured into the house with his head. “Its, uh, hot outside. I’ve got air conditioning.”

_ Air conditioning? _

“Uh, yeah, sure, that would be great.” Stiles answered, awkwardly shifting on his feet. Derek stepped backward and held the door open.

Derek’s house was nice. Stiles immediately made note of the full bookcases standing side by side, and because his brain to mouth filter goes to shit when he’s around Derek apparently, he blurted out “So you read a lot?”

Derek nodded, looking a bit bemused. “Yeah, I do.” He glanced around. “Sorry for the mess, I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

Stiles almost laughed. “Dude, no worries, you should see my dorm room.”

Derek cracked a half smile. “So, uh, how are you?” He asked, giving Stiles that intense look again, like he really cared about the answer.

“I’m ok. It's been a quiet year, but I like college. A lot of shit went down senior year and stuff but that’s a lot to get into right now and I guess you were there for part of it huh? But it looks like things might not be quiet for long. But how are you? How’s living in Mexico? Hot?” He winced.  _ Hot? What the fuck? Why? _

“It's ok. Hot.” Derek said. “I get to see Cora now and again which is nice, and it's quiet. But what did you mean earlier? Things might not be quiet for long?”

Stiles sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, that's kind of why I’m here. Can I get some water or something first though?”

Derek nodded. “Yeah, of course. You can sit down if you want, I’ll grab it.”

He came back with some water, and Stiles chugged the whole thing as Derek sat on an armchair next to the couch.

“All right. So basically, Kira’s a skin walker now, and she came to find Scott to give him this creepy prophecy message thing from the other skin walkers. Some bad shits gonna go down in Beacon Hills. Hold up, wait, I have the message written down I think.” He rummaged in his pockets for a second, coming up with a crumpled piece of paper.

“Yeah, here we go, the message is that ‘Danger is coming to Beacon Hills. Danger in the form of Death, of Grief, of Sacrifice, in the form of a Fox. The Fox can only be stopped with Pack, a Pack united, unbroken, led by a True Alpha. Gather the Pack, Alpha’. Exact wording. So you know, pretty ominous.”

Derek frowned. “That doesn’t sound good. Still a little confused about why you’re here though. Not that I’m not happy you are.” He looked down for a second, and Stiles could have sworn he saw a blush.

“Well, The Pack united and unbroken part sounds like the whole pack. Kira and Scott think it means everyone who's ever been in the pack. Which includes you. And Kira has some sort of like, mystical skin walker feeling that you’re going to be important. Which is why I’m here. To ask you to come back to Beacon Hills. I feel like shit about it, dude, it looks like you’re comfortable here, but it sounds like some bad shit. We don’t exactly have the best track record with foxes.”

Derek could see Stiles’s demeanor change when he mentioned foxes. His eyes darted around, his heartbeat sped up, and his scent was flooded with the thick smell of fear. That smell, more than anything, made Derek agree. He needed to get that smell out of Stiles.

“Of course I’ll help, Stiles.”

Stiles gave him a look that was half bemused, half hopeful. “Really? Just like that?” He asked.

Derek nodded decisively. “Skin walkers don’t mess around. If they sent one of their own, especially one as untested as Kira, they must be serious. New skin walkers don’t leave the supervision of the elders except in very rare circumstances.”

“That’s more than Kira has told us about the skin walkers so far. Wait, how do you know about skin walkers? How much do you know? Do you have like a book or something in here?” Stiles asked, the curiosity that Derek remembered so well lighting up his face as he scanned the shelves.

“Uh, no book. My mom had some interactions with them. She used to tell us stories.”

“You’re going to have to tell me all of those stories on the ride back. It's a long one. Speaking of, if you're actually serious about coming back, Kira said the sooner the better.”

“Yeah, of course. Just let me pack some clothes and make a phone call.” Derek said.

“A phone call? Derek Hale, lonerwolf, has to make a phone call?” Stiles asked, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Derek had to physically stop himself from smiling too fondly. Stiles would get suspicious if his behavior was too different.

“Isaac drops by every once in a while. I need to let him know I won’t be home.”

“Wait, dude, Isaac is part of the pack. He needs to come to Beacon too. I was gonna ask you about that but it totally slipped my mind.”

Derek hesitated. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of bringing Isaac back to Beacon Hills. He had been purposefully avoiding it since Allison’s death. He knew his former Beta could take care of himself, but Isaac had been the first member of his pack, and he felt a sense of responsibility for him. But faced with Stiles’s expectant look, he nodded reluctantly all the same, and dialed the number.

Isaac picked up on the second ring. “Derek? Is everything ok?” A note of worry rang in his voice. Derek usually wasn’t in contact with him outside of his visits. 

“Yeah, Isaac, I’m good. Where are you right now?”

“Uh, New York, currently. I’m heading out in a couple days though. Why?”

Derek gritted his teeth. “Something’s going down in Beacon Hills. Something bad. Stiles showed up here today and I’m heading back with him. They’re.. reassembling the Pack.”

Isaac was silent for a moment. “Oh,” he said, voice carefully blank. “I guess that includes me too, if you’re part of that. When do you need me there?”

“As soon as possible. Listen, Isaac-”

“It’s fine, Derek. I’ll catch the soonest flight. I’ll text you when I get it figured out. See you soon.” The call ended with a click. Derek kept the phone at his ear a moment longer before lowering it, exhaling deeply through his nose. 

“He’ll be at Beacon as soon as he can.” He said in response to Stiles’ questioning look, moving to his room and starting to throw some clothes in a duffle bag. 

Stiles bit his lip and adjusted his glasses anxiously, sensing the shift in the werewolf’s mood. One thing that he and Derek had never been was awkward, but it had been so long and Derek seemed... Different somehow, and Stiles felt like he was walking on eggshells. The conversation had been so stilted, none of their usual banter, and Derek had been looking at him so weirdly. 

“Hey, Derek,” He started awkwardly, “I’m sorry we had to drag you and Isaac into this-”

Derek snorted. “Shut up, Stiles, it’s fine. Of course we were going to help,” he said, turning to face the younger man. “Honestly? It’s been a bit too quiet around here without, uh, the Pack.” 

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and Stiles broke out into a smile. 

“Ahhhhh, I knew you missed us, you big softy,” he grinned. “Now hurry your wolfy butt up, I’m starving and I saw a burger place a ways back that’s calling my name.”

Derek rolled his eyes fondly and shot Stiles a smirk as he turned to finish packing, and for just a minute, it felt like everything was back to normal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy, I love writing Stiles and Derek. Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who's celebrating- I'm personally planning on eating an entire pie by myself. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Lydia stared blankly at the ceiling, her usually immaculate fiery hair in a tangled mess, phone clutched limply in her hand. She had finally stopped checking for a response earlier that day, after sending message after message to Stiles for days on end with no reply. The only time her phone had rang, it had been a call from the funeral home, asking her to come and make decisions on the coffin. Her mother’s coffin.

Natalie Martin had been killed in a hit and run car accident three days ago. Lydia had gotten the call from Sheriff Stilinski just after her last final.

She had been trying to reach Stiles ever since she found out, but he hadn’t responded. She had no idea where he was, he was supposed to have been home yesterday. She was so desperate for companionship, for comfort, that she had even reached out to Jackson, texting the number that had lain dormant in her phone for years. She thought, or hoped, that the bond between them was still there, the bond that saved him when he nearly died, even after all these years. But there was no response. So she supposed she was wrong about that. Malia was still in France, for god knows how long, Scott wasn’t due back for another day, and Lydia was completely alone.

Aside from one person. Well, two. Jordan came by when he could, especially at first. He handled the funeral arrangements when she couldn’t take care of it herself, and made her eat in the first few days. But he was on long shifts now, with the sheriff calling every hand into the station. She didn’t know why. She didn’t really care. Besides Jordan, Liam had sent Hayden to keep an eye on Lydia after he had found out what happened. The anger prone werewolf did his best to keep things running, but he was a little scared of Lydia. And she had never really gotten along well with the younger wolves, so having Hayden around was almost more of a burden than anything else.

As she laid there in her childhood bed, trying to drown out the thoughts in her overactive brain, a voice besides her own made itself known. Quietly at first, nothing more than a slight murmur, but growing in strength.

_ Lydia… _

Lydia sat up, eyes scanning the room but finding nothing.

_ Poor darling... do you miss your mother, dear? Of course you do. How awful to have to suffer all alone. _

“Who are you?” Lydia whispered, voice cracking.

_ Where are those friends of yours, Lydia? Don’t they care for you? Shouldn’t they be here for you? Especially that boyfriend of yours. But no, they leave you all alone, when you need them the most. After all you’ve done for them. _

“They’ll be here.” Lydia said. She tried to sound strong, but her voice wavered.

_ Will they? I’m sure you’re right, darling. But what if they don’t show up? What on earth will you do then? _

“Get out of my head.”

_ Do you really want me to go, dear? If you say you do, I will... but don’t you miss me? Lydia, don’t you miss your mother? _

It was a woman speaking, Lydia realized. A woman with a warm, comforting voice, affectionate, almost loving. Her mouth fell open, and her eyes filled with tears.

“...Mom?” she whispered.

_ Yes, sweetheart, it's me... Tell me, Lydia, what do you want most in the whole world?  _ The voice murmured, sounding for all the world as if the woman were standing right next to her. She almost seemed to be holding her in a gentle hug.

“My mother.” Lydia said, breaking out into sobs. “I want my mother back.”

_ Of course you do, of course you do...  _ The woman crooned.  _ I didn’t want to leave you, Lydia. Not like this. Never like this... _

“I’m so sorry!” Lydia wailed. “I should have known, I should have stopped it, I’m a banshee! I can sense death but I didn’t know when my own mother died?”

_ Lydia, I’m not gone. I’m still here. You can help me. You can find me. I’m just trapped. You can find me, Lydia… _

“Where are you?” Lydia choked out, throat clogged with tears. “How can I find you?”

As she cried, the warm, comforting presence of the voice withdrew, leaving her cold.

“Hello?” Lydia choked out. “Are you still there?”

But her mind was quiet. 

“Wait, please! Come back!” She screamed. “I want you back! Help me!”

“Lydia?” Hayden appeared around the door, a bowl of soup in hand. “Who are you talking to? Are you ok?”

Lydia stared at the chimera with hauntingly wide eyes. “No one. Nothing. Everything is fine,” she murmured in a hoarse voice. She took the soup and returned to staring blankly at the ceiling. Hayden looked at her with concern, but took her at her word.

This turned out to be a bad move. Hayden woke up the next morning, and Lydia Martin was gone.

***

“Liam, will you please just calm down?” an exasperated voice spoke out from behind him. Liam Dunbar, stand-in alpha for the McCall pack while Scott was away at college, whipped around, fangs dropping as he scowled at the chimera leaning casually against the wall behind him, seemingly indifferent to the fact that a member of their pack was missing. 

“No, you asshole, I will not calm down!” He growled. Theo Raeken raised an eyebrow at him, barely containing a smirk. It took all of Liam’s self control not to rip the other teen’s head off. Sometimes he really regretted vouching for Theo to the rest of the pack, even though it had been his testimony that convinced Scott to let Theo stick around Beacon Hills after the Ghost Riders.

“Lydia is missing! Just gone! Scott is going to kill me when he gets back from school!” Liam yelled. “How did Hayden mess this up? I asked her to do one thing! I’d almost think she was doing this to spite me or something, it’s not my fault we broke up-” he stopped abruptly. He tried not to talk about the breakup between him and Hayden in front of Theo. He thought it might be awkward, given some… recent developments. 

Theo didn’t seem to share the same sentiment, however, and actually had the audacity to laugh at him.

“Sorry to break it to you, but you were the one who broke up with her, so it is kind of your fault.” He said, his eyes twinkling. 

“It’s not funny,” Liam said, deflating a little bit. Theo sighed, and walked over to the anger-prone werewolf, grabbing his shoulder and pulling Liam down to sit next to him on the couch. The slight touch causes butterflies to take flight in Liam’s stomach. 

“Listen, I’m sure Lydia will be fine. She’s pulled this kind of stunt before, right? Running off in the middle of the night? She turned up then and she will this time. Besides, she can take care of herself, at least until we find her. I’ll help, ok?”

Liam sighed, finally relaxing a bit and leaning into Theo. 

“Thank you. I’m sorry I yelled.” He murmured. 

Theo chuckled. “I would have been more worried about you if you weren’t yelling,” he replied, pressing a kiss to the top of Liam’s head. 

Yeah. That was the new development. 

Liam tilted his head back to come eye to eye with his… boyfriend? They hadn’t really discussed labels yet, this thing between them was too new, but they were definitely something. Theo’s eyes softened dramatically from the usual guarded look he wore around the others, to an almost tender gaze that he only used around Liam. He bent down and gently, almost hesitantly, kissed Liam, who melted into it instantly, parting his lips as he brought his hands up to cup Theo’s face. 

Theo had been much more aggressive when he kissed Liam in the beginning. He stole kisses as though they might be his last, as if he had to fight for them, and given the life Theo led, Liam understood why. It was only more recently that this gentler side of the chimera had come out, and Liam still couldn’t believe that it was him that had done that. 

“Oh come on, you guys.” 

The two of them broke apart, Liam panting slightly, and saw Mason standing in the doorway, his face set in a very disapproving stare. Liam glanced back at Theo and saw with a pang of disappointment that the guarded look was back on his face. Theo liked Mason well enough, he knew, better than most of the pack, but Theo’s trust was hard won. 

“You guys didn’t even hear me coming, did you? You know you’re gonna get caught if you aren’t more careful,” Mason said. 

Mason, as Liam’s best friend, was the only one of the pack who knew about their relationship. Liam had gone to him when he first realized that he was developing feelings for Theo, and it was on his advice that Liam had broken up with Hayden. He had practically had to beg Mason not to tell the rest of the pack. They still didn’t trust Theo entirely, and this thing between them was still very new.

“Sorry, Mase,” Liam said. “Any news?” 

“Hayden is out looking for her now, but I haven’t heard from her since she left. Assuming that means no news. Brett just left too. Also, just to give you a heads up… Scott’s back. And you’ll never guess who he has with him.” 

Liam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Scott isn’t due back until later tomorrow. Who’s he with?” 

Before Mason could answer, Liam heard the front door open with a bang. Theo practically leaped off of the bed and went to the wall opposite from Liam, leaning against it with a stoney face in an attempt to look casual. Liam mourned the loss, but didn’t have time to do so for long. Scott was in his room in an instant, his face clearly expressing stress and concern, but also a little bit of an emotion that Liam couldn’t really place. 

“Kira?” Liam exclaimed as he saw who had walked in behind Scott. Kira smiled and nodded at him. She looked different, more confident. She walked with a newfound sense of purpose, and the war paint on her face weirdly suited her. Liam had always been a little starstruck by Kira- she was the only kitsune he knew and she was very, very cool. Not everyone can summon lightning, after all. 

“Hey Liam,” she said with a little wave, reassuring him that underneath all that badass, there was still the dorky Kira she had been before she left to train with the skin walkers. 

Scott was glancing back and forth between the two of them, gaze lingering on Kira. Liam could smell the spikes of emotion coming off of him- as Scott’s only bitten beta, he was much more in tune with his alpha’s emotions than the others. He went over to Scott and wrapped his arms around him, and Scott hugged him back hard. He knew the time away from the pack was hard for Scott. 

Scott released him and immediately asked after Lydia. 

“Liam, what the hell is going on? Mason just told me that Lydia is missing?”

“Scott I’m so sorry,” Liam started. “I tried to get ahold of you but you weren’t answering your phone or anything-” 

Scott placed a hand on his beta’s shoulder. “It's ok. Just tell me what happened.”

Liam took a deep breath and nodded. “Lydia’s mom died. She got hit by a car. Lydia’s been trying to call Stiles and stuff but he hasn’t been answering her for a few days. I had Hayden staying with her to make sure she was ok, but last night she got out. She left in the middle of the night and we don’t know where she is. There’s no other scent so I don’t think anyone took her, maybe she was following some weird banshee instinct but I have Hayden and Brett out looking for her.”

Scott stood frozen for a moment, brown eyes stricken. “Her mom died?” 

“The form of death and grief,” Kira murmured from behind him. Scott turned his head and looked at her, the two of them having an unspoken conversation. 

“Do you think..?” Scott whispered, not breaking eye contact. Kira shrugged helplessly. 

“I know as much as you do, Scott. But the timing… this could be really, really bad.” 

“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Theo spoke for the first time. Scott and Kira broke away from each other’s gazes to look at him suspiciously. 

“Something bad is going down in Beacon Hills. That’s why I’m here. Something, we don’t know what, is coming. This… this might be the beginning of it. Regardless, we need to find Lydia,” Kira spoke. 

Theo snorted. “No shit. Be more cryptic, why don’t you?” 

Scott snarled low in his throat. “Watch it, Raeken,” he warned. 

Liam gulped as he saw a dangerous look creep up in Theo’s eyes. Scott wasn’t usually this aggressive with Theo, but then again, it was concerning Kira. This would certainly be interesting when Malia was around again. 

“Guys, come on. Kira, a little more information would be great, but I think we can all agree the priority is finding Lydia and making sure she’s safe.” Liam said. 

Scott turned and looked at his beta almost admiringly. He was really growing in the role of leader. 

“You’re right. Let’s get out and start searching, we’ll fill you in while we’re on the move.” 

With that, the five of them headed out to search for Lydia. 

***

The night wind ruffled Lydia’s red hair as she walked through the woods, leaves crunching under her slippers. Her nightgown was torn in places, having been caught on passing branches, and she had scratches all over her bare forearms. With her pale skin and possessed eyes, she could have been mistaken for a ghost wandering the forest of Beacon Hills. 

Lydia was following the voice. She wasn’t sure where it was leading her, but she felt a compulsive draw to track it down. Her mother was trapped, she knew it, and she needed to set her free .

She had been walking for a night and a day, and if she had been herself, or even really conscious, she would have realized that she had no idea where she was. But in her current state, all she knew was that she was almost there. 

The trees parted before her, and her feet slowly came to a stop. Her glazed over eyes looked down with a sense of recognition at the familiar tree stump before her. The Nemeton, of course. The source of supernatural power in Beacon Hills. Where else had enough power to trap a spirit? 

“I’m here, Mom,” she whispered. “How do I help you?” 

There was silence for a moment, and then a gust of wind burst sharply into the clearing, blowing leaves and swirling around Lydia. 

_ My darling Lydia, I knew you would find me…  _ the now familiar voice spoke to her, this time not in her head, but seeming to be spoken by the wind.  _ You’ve been here before, haven’t you? _

Lydia nodded. “Yes. This was where Jennifer came to enhance her powers. That was just the first time.” 

_ Yes, the Nemeton holds immense power, but it can do so much more than just give some irrelevant witch a few little abilities. She was a fool who didn’t realize the true purpose of the Nemeton.  _

Lydia paused for a moment. That didn’t sound like her mother. 

“How do you know that?” she asked. 

The voice changed again, its sweet, honeyed tones lulling her back into her trance. 

_ I can feel it, Lydia. The tree trapped me. And I have a little bit of banshee in me, too, dear. It runs in the family. But I want to get out. Can you help me? _

“Yes.”

_ Then place your hand on the Nemeton. Place your hand on it and look inside yourself. Find me. Listen to the voices in your head. And when you have found the voices, found ALL of the voices, I need you to scream. I need your voice, Lydia.  _

Lydia stared at the Nemeton, and slowly extended her hand, kneeling next to the stump, and closing her eyes. As her hand came in contact with the tree, a mist rolled into the clearing, goosebumps rising on her arm. A cloud cover rolled over the sky, obscuring the nearly full moon, and Lydia dug deep. She heard all the voices that she usually would ignore, would try to block out, all the voices of the dead and the dying, and sought out her mother’s dying scream. But she couldn’t find it, as one scream stood above them all. 

Her eyes snapped open, clear and conscious for the first time since she had left her house the previous night. This wasn’t her mother. Her mother was dead. And someone else was about to die, too. 

“Hayden! No!” she gasped, just as the dark haired girl burst into the clearing. 

“Lydia! Thank God!” she called out, eyes yellow as she finally found the banshee. “We’ve been worried sick, what are you doing out here?” 

“Hayden, leave! You have to go!” Lydia yelled, trying to pull her hand away from the Nemeton. It glowed red hot, and her hand stayed frozen where it was, as if it was glued to the stump. She could feel a scream starting in her chest the longer she looked at Hayden, but she tried to fight it off, knowing that was what the thing trapped in the Nemeton wanted from her. 

_ Can you feel it, Lydia? Can you feel her death? I know you can. She will taste delicious. Give in, Lydia. Scream!  _

It was no longer her mother speaking, but something dark, something immensely powerful and ancient. Lydia shook her head vehemently, tears pooling in her eyes. 

“I won’t! Hayden, please, leave!” she cried, knowing that she couldn’t hold off her scream much longer. 

“Lydia, what the hell is going on?” Hayden demanded, moving towards Lydia instead of away. 

_ SCREAM, LYDIA! SCREAM, HARBRINGER OF DEATH! SCREAM! _

The voice in her head was deafening, and Lydia finally felt the scream overwhelm her, and unwillingingly let loose. 

The scream echoed through the clearing, and through the rest of Beacon Hills, causing the Pack to lift their heads and unanimously run towards the Nemeton. 

***

“FUCK!” Stiles yelled at the top of his lungs, swerving the Jeep to the side of the highway. Derek leapt awake from where he was sleeping in the passenger seat. 

“Stiles? What’s wrong?” he demanded, but the younger man couldn’t answer, curled into the fetal position in his seat, hyperventilating. 

“No, no, no…” he whispered under his breath. Derek stared at him helplessly, before remembering what had helped Stiles through panic attacks in the past. He gingerly reached over and placed a hand on his back, between his shoulder blades, and rubbed in a slow circle, trying to calm him down. 

They sat like this for a few moments, before Stiles’s breathing started to even out and his shaking subsided a bit. He looked up at Derek with tears running down his face behind his glasses, pupils dilated in fright. Derek hadn’t seen Stiles so afraid in a long, long time. Not since the Nogitsune.

“What happened?’ Derek said, trying to keep his voice calm and steady. Stiles could only whisper a single phrase in response. 

“A fox.”

***

Thunder rippled through the sky of Beacon Hills as Lydia’s scream subsided, hand still glued to the Nemeton. 

_ Thank you, Lydia. _

The voice spoke gleefully, and Lydia’s hand was released. She collapsed on the ground beside it. 

_ You’ve played your part. Now it's your delicious friend’s turn. _

Lydia tried to protest, but her voice was entirely gone, and her bones felt liquified, so all she could do was shake her head. 

A shadow leaked out of the Nemeton beside her, creeping over the leaves towards Hayden. 

“What the fuck?” the girl said as the shadow reached her foot. It climbed slowly up her body, and she started to scream. 

Time stopped for Lydia. Hayden’s screams seemed eternal, and Lydia longed to scream with her. She wished that she were dead. 

That wish might have been granted, but after an indeterminate amount of time, Lydia felt herself picked up in blazing hot arms, and the roar of a hellhound echoed in the clearing as she was carried to safety. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, here's the next chapter! This one's a bit more plot heavy, but of course I had to add in a bit of Thiam fluff because they own my heart. I really appreciate everyone who's left kudos and comments so far, it's nice to know that people are enjoying the story! Thank you to everyone who's reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Hayden was gone. 

Liam could hardly believe his ears when the dust finally settled, and Jordan finally told the pack what had happened. The Hellhound met them in the woods, fire blazing around his body, Lydia cradled in his arms. Her eyes were open, but she didn’t respond to any outside stimulus. It looked like she was dead. 

The hellhound’s one objective was to get Lydia to safety, so Scott guided them to the clinic, where Deaton was waiting, as if he knew what happened before any of them contacted him. Stiles used to call it the “Deaton Sense”, Liam remembered. The vet set to work with Lydia. 

“She has no external injuries, and no internal ones that I can detect,” Deaton said, his voice as calming as ever, from years working in the supernatural. “Where did you find her, Deputy?” 

Parrish stood as close to Lydia as he could manage, without getting in Deaton’s way. His body was covered in soot, some flaking off and falling to the ground near his bare feet. His eyes never left her face, even when he spoke. 

“The Nemeton,” he said. Behind Liam, Scott stiffened. “It was like she was… stuck to it. And-”

Jordan stopped his sentence, finally tearing his eyes from Lydia and turning them to Scott. 

“There was a body. In the clearing.” his voice was rough. 

“A body? Whose?” Scott asked. Liam felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. His palms started to sweat, though he wasn’t sure why. Across the room, he saw Theo’s eyes flit to him, a glimmer of concern crossing the chimera’s face. 

“I…” Jordan hesitated again. “The body was.. Torn up. I couldn't recognize it, so I can’t be sure, but it smelled like-”

“Hayden.” Liam’s voice was certain. The room started to blur in front of him, and he wasn’t sure why, until Scott’s hand was on his back. 

“Liam, breathe,” Scott said. He couldn’t obey until Scott repeated the command, flashing his Alpha eyes. Then he was breathing too much, it seemed, getting close to hyperventilation. 

“I’m right, aren’t I?” he demanded. “Hayden was the only one who could have gotten into the clearing, gotten close to the Nemeton at all. Right?” 

The look on Jordan’s face was all the confirmation that he needed. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest, and his breath was coming in gasps. He shrugged off Scott’s hand, backing away from the Pack. 

“I can’t- I-” he turned on his heel and bolted. From behind him, he could hear Scott start after him, but then Theo’s voice rang out, the only clear thing in Liam’s universe. 

“I’ll go,” the chimera said. Scott started to protest, but Mason chimed in in Theo’s defense. Liam didn’t stop running, slamming through the doors of the clinic, running out into the street. He didn’t know where he was going, and he didn’t care. 

He ended up in the woods, at the spot that he and Hayden used to meet. He collapsed to the ground, panting. 

He heard footsteps behind him, and he didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Theo crouched next to him, placing a cautious hand on his back. 

“Liam, you need to breathe,” he said quietly, rubbing a small circle with his hand. 

“I can’t,” Liam gasped out. 

“You know, even werewolves have an oxygen limit. If you don’t breathe you’re going to pass out.” 

Theo’s voice was all business, but Liam had been around him long enough to know that there was genuine concern behind it. When Liam continued gasping, Theo shifted, moving around so he was directly in front of the beta. 

“Look at me,” he said in a commanding tone. Liam’s eyes flickered up to Theo’s own. Theo held his gaze unflinchingly. He took Liam’s hand in his and put it on his chest, placing his own on Liam’s. 

“Follow my breath, ok?” Theo said. He took an exaggerated breath in and out. Liam followed as best he could. After a few minutes, Liam was breathing normally again- at least, as normally as could be expected under the circumstances. With the return of his breathing came a flood of emotions- mainly guilt. His eyes pricked with tears, and he tore his gaze away from Theo’s face. 

“Liam?” Theo asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle. 

“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I sent Hayden out there by herself-” Liam began. 

“Shut up. It’s not your fault,” Theo insisted. “We were all looking for Lydia. It could have been any one of us, you know that.”

“It should have been me,” Liam whispered, head hanging low. He yelped as Theo’s hand grabbed his chin, forcing his face up to look the chimera in the eye. Theo’s eyes were blazing. 

“No. It shouldn’t have been you. It shouldn’t have been anyone, but it shouldn’t have been you.” his voice was fierce, an undercurrent of fear bleeding into his words that Liam didn’t expect. 

That, above all, broke the younger werewolf. He let out a sob, collapsing into Theo’s chest. Theo’s arms came up to wrap around Liam, holding him almost tightly enough to crack his ribs. That was exactly what Liam needed- Theo’s scent and the tightness of his hold grounded him. 

Liam cried until he couldn’t cry anymore. 

***

Scott looked out of the door, brows furrowing as Theo left in pursuit of Liam. 

“When did they get close?” he asked the room at large, though he supposed it was mostly directed towards Mason. “Should someone else go too?” 

Mason shook his head. “Theo’s all right. He’s... good with Liam. He can handle it.” 

Brett, standing near the door, scoffed a bit. “I guess that’s one way to say it.” 

Scott detected a slight change in Mason’s heart rate- not enough to indicate a lie, but maybe an omission of truth. Brett’s was steady as always, though the other werewolf had always been a good liar. There were other things to focus on, so he pushed his questions about that relationship to the back of his mind. 

“You’re sure it was her?’’ Scott asked Jordan. The older man nodded, a somber expression on his face. 

“Almost certain. Scott, I’ve never seen anything like that. She was torn to shreds.” He spoke the last sentence in a near whisper. 

“Was there anything else there?’ Scott asked. 

“Not that I could tell. We’ll have to wait until Lydia wakes up to find out anything else.” 

The mention of Lydia was all that it took for Jordan’s eyes to return to her face. “Is she going to be ok?”

“I believe so,” Deaton replied. “I can’t detect any injuries. My guess is that she’s drained. Probably in shock, as well.”

“Could it be something magical?” Mason interjected. “Something to put her in a comatose state?” 

“I don’t think so,” Deaton said. “It seems like a trauma response. Her body needs to recover. Give her some time. I think she’ll come out of it on her own.”

“I don’t know if we can wait, Scott,” Kira said in a quiet voice. She’d been silent for most of the exchange, besides a few clipped words when they came across Jordan in the forest, but Scott was hyper aware of her presence. “We might not have time. We need to get out ahead of this.” 

“Out ahead of what?” Deaton said, eyes narrowing keenly. Scott and Kira explained the situation, Deaton’s brow furrowing even further as they did so. 

“Miss Yakimura may be right,” he said, with a nod to Kira. Kira frowned a bit at the formal address. “Scott, I would recommend going back to the scene, if you can. There may be some evidence that you can find before Lydia wakes up.” 

Scott nodded, face determined. He turned to Kira. “Will you-”

“Obviously I’m coming with you,” Kira replied. “Jordan should stay with Lydia. Mason-”

“I should stay, too. I want to do some research, if Deaton lets me use his library,” Mason said, looking to Deaton for permission. 

“Of course. I could use someone with your analytical brain to help parse this out.”

“Where do you want me?” Brett said from his position near the door. Scott didn’t miss Mason’s glance at the taller werewolf. 

“Stay here. Kira and I can handle the Nemeton. We’ll call if we need backup.” Scott glanced out the door again. “I think I should check on Liam, before we go.” 

Mason looked up with a strange expression on his face. “I don’t think… I think Theo has it under control. Liam will be ok, but he needs some space. I’ll make sure to tell him you were worried when he comes back.” 

Scott turned slowly to face the human. “Mason, is there something you’re not telling me?” 

Mason sighed. “Yeah, there is, but it's not urgent. Liam should tell you himself. He’s had a shock, just give him some time.” 

Scott’s face turned worried. “There’s something  _ Liam _ wasn’t telling me?” 

Scott prided himself on being a good alpha, a True Alpha. Hearing that his only bitten beta was hiding something from him was a bit of a blow to the idea that he had of himself. Scott sometimes regretted leaving Beacon Hills at all, but never more than in this moment. 

Kira put a hand on his arm. “Scott. We should go.” 

Scott turned his eyes to her, and nodded slowly. The two of them left the clinic. 

“We didn’t drive here, did we?” Scott said sheepishly. Kira’s mouth turned up at the corner. 

“I guess not. In the mood for a hike?” 

Scott and Kira began their trudge through the woods. Scott could smell the direction that Liam and Theo took off in, and kept turning his head in that direction. He wanted to be there for Liam, and it was strange that Theo seemed to have taken on that role. They retraced their steps to where they met Jordan. 

The walk was… awkward, at first. Scott couldn’t keep his eyes off of Kira, but she was single minded and focused. Hayden’s death lingered over them like a fog, dampening any joy that the two of them might have experienced at their reunion. 

“I’m really sorry, Scott,” Kira broke the silence, sending a sympathetic look his way. “About Hayden. I didn’t really know her, but I know she was part of your pack.”

Scott was startled. “Thank you,” he said, cursing himself immediately for how stiff it sounded. The silence continued, stretching tighter and tighter, before Scott broke it again. 

“It’s not just my pack, you know,” he said. Kira frowned. 

“What?” 

“I mean, it's your pack, too. It still is,” Scott said earnestly. Kira turned her head, making eye contact with him for the first time since they found themselves alone. A heat passed between the two of them, a recognition of what they felt for each other, and the feelings that still lingered, but there was a sadness in Kira’s eyes. 

She sighed. “Scott… you know that’s not true. I left. I’m just the messenger.” 

“I don’t think so,” Scott argued. “Wouldn’t the skin-walkers have sent someone more experienced otherwise? You’re still a part of this pack. That doesn’t mean that you have to stay, or anything, but just because you left doesn’t mean you don’t belong anymore.”

His words rang through the forest. Kira swallowed hard, looking down at the ground. 

“That’s a nice thought. But I’m not the same person that I was when I left. I’m a skin-walker, Scott. Even if I still have a… connection to the pack, and Beacon Hills, that doesn’t mean I’m still part of it.”

They both blushed at the mention of a connection, but before the argument could continue, they found themselves in the clearing of the Nemeton. They both stiffened. 

Something was wrong. The Nemeton looked and felt different. It was withered, as though any remaining life had been sucked out of it. Some of the roots were ripped up, and the grass in the clearing was dead. Scott’s eyes fell on the body- Hayden’s body. 

He knelt next to her. Jordan was right. The scent confirmed it was Hayden beyond a doubt, but the body was unrecognizable. It sat in a puddle of black blood, skin torn from the body, limbs tangled in entirely unnatural positions. 

Scott’s eyes pricked with tears, and he fought to hold them back. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. He reached out a hand, but before he could touch the body, Kira’s hand circled his wrist, pulling him back. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. Her strength surprised him. When he looked at her face, her eyes were entirely dark, the way they were when she channeled the message from the skin-walkers. 

“The magic here… it's gone,” she said, walking around the tree in a slow circle. “It’s like it was absorbed. Like something took it.” 

“What do you mean? What took it?” Scott asked, keeping his eyes trained on her. 

“I don’t know.” Kira’s eyes returned to her usual color, but there was a new fear in them. “But I think something got out of the Nemeton. And I think it used Lydia to escape.” 

***

_ Welcome to Beacon Hills.  _

The sign to the town passed in a blur as the Jeep raced past it. Derek was behind the wheel, and at Stiles’s insistence, he was pushing the old car to its limits. Derek glanced a look at the passenger seat. 

“We’re here,” he said, more for the sake of starting conversation than thinking Stiles wasn’t aware of the fact. 

Stiles was gazing out the window, dark circles under his eyes. His long fingers tapped on the door handle, and his right leg was bouncing up and down. Anxiety was coming off of him in waves, making Derek’s own heart rate speed up. Stiles hadn’t slept since he almost wrecked the car, since he felt the fox. Derek finally insisted on driving the rest of the way- he at least was still a little bit fresh, though he could feel fatigue tugging on his own eyelids. 

It was early morning. They had driven through the night. 

“I noticed,” Stiles replied. 

“Should we call Scott?” Derek tried again. Stiles nodded, pulling out his phone. 

The phone rang a few times, then went to voicemail. Stiles frowned. He tried again, with the same result. 

“I’ll try Lydia,” he said. Lydia’s phone went to voicemail too. Stiles winced at that. He couldn’t blame her if she was ignoring him. He’d been doing the same, the last few days. He hadn’t even listened to her voicemail. He did glance at her texts, but all they said was ‘call me’. 

“How about Liam?” Derek suggested. Stiles tried that, and finally got a result. 

“Stiles?” Liam’s voice piped up on the other line. Stiles knew instantly that something was wrong. The Beta’s voice was choked up and hoarse. 

“Liam? Derek and I just got into Beacon Hills. Scott’s not answering. Where is everyone?” 

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Come to the clinic. Scott’s out at the Nemeton with Kira.” 

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed, hearing Liam’s tone on the other end of the line. “Something happened,” he stated. Stiles made a quieting motion with his hand. 

“Liam, what happened? Fill me in.” 

There was a harsh swallow on the other end of the line, and the sound of a deep, shaky breath. “It’s Lydia.”

Stiles’s heart dropped into his stomach, heart beating so fast that Derek had to stop himself from swerving the car to the side of the road. 

Stiles covered the phone with his hand. 

“Animal clinic. Drive.” he said shortly. Derek nodded, pressing on the gas pedal. 

Liam filled Stiles in on the situation, Derek listening in, while they made the short drive to Deaton’s. Stiles was out of the car before it even came to a stop, sprinting into the clinic. Derek stopped the car and followed him in. 

Deaton, Mason, Brett, Jordan, Theo, and Liam were all in the clinic when Derek came in. Their faces were gaunt and grief filled. Stiles sprinted past them to Lydia, who lay on the examination table, in a shredded nightgown, her red hair splayed out behind her. Derek felt a small pang of jealousy from his wolf when he saw Stiles take Lydia’s hand, but he forced it down. 

Derek walked over to Liam, putting his arm around the younger wolf. Derek wasn’t always good with people, but he knew Liam, had helped him through his early transitions. Liam wasn’t his own beta, but he could still offer some comfort, and the grief coming off of the other man in waves was something Derek was all too familiar with. Liam leaned into the embrace. Derek caught a whiff of jealousy from the man standing on Liam’s other side. He didn’t know this one, but he could guess that it was Theo from what Stiles told him. 

Stiles looked down at Lydia. Her eyes were open, but she wasn’t blinking, and didn’t respond to the squeeze of his hand. 

“Lydia?” he said softly, but she didn’t respond to his voice, either. Stiles felt a surge of guilt, making an empty hole in his gut. He could have stopped this from happening. If he just answered one goddamn phone call, he could have stopped this. 

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Stiles asked, looking at Deaton. 

“I believe she’s in a state of shock, and magical drain from the use of her powers. Which is saying a lot, given Lydia’s considerable abilities. I think she’ll wake up on her own.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Stiles demanded. Deaton didn’t dignify that with an answer. Stiles ran his free hand through his hair, then pushed his glasses impatiently up on his nose. His eyes drifted around the room before coming to a rest on Jordan. 

“You,” he said, pointing a finger. Jordan looked up, startled. 

“What about me?” 

“You and Lydia have some kind of supernatural connection, right? You can sense when she’s in trouble and stuff like that?” 

“If you’re trying to blame me for this-” Jordan started. He wasn’t defensive, but earnest. Stiles thought it would be easier to hate Jordan if he was just a little less nice. 

“I’m not. If I’m blaming anyone, it's myself, trust me,” Stiles replied. “But I’m saying you might be able to wake her up.” 

“I tried to,” Jordan said, hanging his head. 

“Did you try using the Hellhound?” Stiles demanded. 

“I found her as the Hellhound, if that’s what you mean. It’s not something I can just bring out whenever I want to.”

“Well, now would be a time to try bringing it out, I think.” Stiles’s tone changed, into something sadder, something more desperate. “Please, Parrish.”

The two of them locked eyes for a long moment, and a mutual understanding seemed to flow through them. 

With a curt nod, Jordan moved closer to Lydia. “Punch me.”

“Huh?” Mason said from the corner of the room. 

“Punch me. I need to bring out the hellhound, and it's easier if there’s a threat.”

“Do we want an angry hellhound in the room, though?” Theo chimed in. “None of us are exactly strong enough to stop you, man.” 

“I think I could take a shot at it,” Brett said with a shrug. Theo scowled. 

“Lydia’s in danger. The hellhound should focus on that,” Jordan said, ignoring Brett’s comment. 

No one moved to accommodate his request. Derek sighed, and stepped forward. He balled up his hand and swung at Jordan, hard. Stiles sent him a thankful glance, which soon turned to apprehension when Jordan’s eyes glowed orange. 

Jordan was right when he said the hellhound would focus on Lydia. He went to her side, gazing down into her still open and unblinking eyes. 

“Lydia.” His voice reverberated around the room, growing in volume until the glass vials that Deaton had lined along the shelves began to shake. It grew louder and louder until suddenly Lydia shot up, inhaling in a giant gasp. Jordan’s eyes faded to his normal color, and he reached out instinctively, catching Lydia by her waist.

Lydia’s eyes were wild, breath coming in pants. Her whole body was trembling. 

“Lydia, hey, it’s all right. You’re safe,” Jordan said in a reassuring tone, turning her face with his hands to look at him. Her eyes focused in, and her hands came up to clutch at his arms. 

Derek looked away. It seemed like an intimate moment, and he didn’t want to trespass. His eyes sought out Stiles, who was watching Lydia and Parrish with a strange expression on his face. Derek knew most of Stiles’s expressions by this point in their… friendship, but he hadn’t seen this one before. Resignation, maybe. Bittersweetness. Something. 

Jordan seemed to notice it too, and he cleared his throat. He nodded towards Stiles, who came forward slowly, moving into Lydia’s line of sight. 

“Hey, Lyds,” he said quietly. He shrank back from Lydia’s stare. It was withering and cold. She didn’t say a word to him, turning back to Jordan. 

“Help me up, please,” she said. Her voice was raspy and hoarse. Jordan sent an apologetic stare towards Stiles, but lifted her up onto the table, supporting her as she sat. Stiles slunk away, moving back towards Derek. Derek could smell the guilt coming off of him in waves. 

“Save your voice, Lydia,” Deaton said, moving in. “At least until Scott gets here.” 

Lydia nodded, stare blank. Her eyes slowly filled with tears. She said one more word before falling silent again. 

“Hayden.” 

***

Liam snuck out to call Scott while Deaton was examining Lydia. This time, he picked up. He and Kira were already on their way back from the Nemeton, and walked in about fifteen minutes after the call. Scott rushed in, eyes immediately going to Lydia. Kira was right behind him. She smiled at Derek, and moved to stand next to him. 

“Long time no see,” she said in a quiet voice. Derek’s lips quirked upwards, despite the seriousness of the situation. He had always liked Kira. She reminded him a bit of one of his cousins. 

“Fancy meeting you here,” he muttered back, and Kira nudged him with her elbow. The simple touch made Derek’s breath catch- living on his own, he wasn’t exactly used to casual touch anymore, not the kind that was inherent in packs. 

Scott was standing close to Lydia, a little bit removed from Jordan, who hadn’t left her side. 

“Lydia, can you tell us what happened?” he asked. His voice was calm, and his gaze was earnest. Jordan’s hand was on Lydia’s shoulder, steadying her. She took a deep breath, then began to speak in her raspy voice. 

“After… after my mom….” she paused, clearing her throat. “I started hearing this voice. 

In my head. It… well, I thought it was my mom. It sounded like her, it felt like her. It told me that she was trapped, and that if I set her free she could come back.”

The whole pack leaned in as she continued her story. “It needed my help to set it free. So I left. It was like I was in a trance. I didn’t know that I was going to the Nemeton until I got there. It told me to scream, to hear all the voices and scream. I was going to, but then I heard Hayden. She came and found me, and the closer she got to me the closer she got to death. I tried to move, but my hand was stuck to the Nemeton. I screamed. It used my voice to get out. Then it- then it…” she trailed off, and burst into tears. 

“It killed Hayden. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was like a shadow, and it  _ ate  _ her.”

There was a beat of silence when she finished, then Kira chimed in next to Derek. “That’s what I felt, at the Nemeton. That something got out.” 

Scott nodded in agreement. “She did say that while we were there. Do you have any idea what this thing is?” 

Lydia shook her head. “I just know that it was dark. Evil. It… it kind of felt like-” her eyes drifted to Stiles for the first time, and they locked their gaze. “A fox.”

Derek reached a hand out instinctively, wrapping his hand around Stiles’s wrist. Stiles placed his other hand on Derek’s gratefully, but didn’t take his eyes from Lydia. 

“All right, Lydia needs to rest,” Deaton said. “She’s told you what happened. Give her some space, please.” 

“We should go and talk about this, make a plan,” Scott said to the room at large. He took Lydia’s hand. “Will you be ok? Do you want me or Stiles to stay with you?” 

Lydia’s gaze turned cold again. “No. Jordan can stay. If he wants.” 

Jordan nodded at Scott. “I’ll stay.” 

Beneath Derek’s fingers, Stiles’s pulse sped up. Derek squeezed his wrist sympathetically. Stiles’s shoulders slumped. Scott shot a look back at him too, a knowing expression on his face. 

“Ok. If you need anything, just call us,” Scott said. 

The pack filed out of the animal clinic, Stiles lingering until the last of them were gone. Lydia wouldn’t look at him. He sighed, and caught up to Derek outside. 

“I fucked up,” he said in a low voice. Derek brushed his arm against Stiles’s. 

“You guys will work things out,” he said, even though the thought made his wolf snarl. “You always have before.” 

The pack gathered at Scott’s house. Melissa was at work, so the house was empty. Scott clapped Derek on the shoulder when he walked in. 

“It’s good to have you back, man,” he said sincerely. Derek smiled in spite of himself. He did miss this. The pack. The feeling of belonging that came with it. He sat down on the couch next to Kira. Mason sat on his other side with a slightly apprehensive smile. The tall, blonde werewolf, which he had guessed was Brett, sat on the armrest of the couch next to Mason, placing his hand on his shoulder. Derek could hear Mason’s pulse speed up. Liam sat on an armchair across from him, Theo leaning up against it on the floor, while Stiles hovered anxiously, not wanting to sit down. 

“Well, now we know what happened,” Scott said, getting an awkward start to the meeting. The first pack meeting in months. “We need to figure out what to do next.”

“This is definitely the start of things,” Kira interjected. “I was already pretty sure, but when Lydia said fox… there’s no way that’s a coincidence.”

“So what’s the next move?” Liam asked. His voice was flat, and Derek could see grief weighing heavily on him, drawing lines on his face. 

Scott looked to Kira. 

“We can’t do much until we’re all gathered,” Kira said. “Did we get in touch with everyone?” 

“I texted Malia,” Mason said. 

“I got in touch with Issac,” Derek said. “He’s getting on the next flight from New York.” 

Scott nodded approvingly. “So the only person we haven’t gotten in touch with is Jackson, right? Can anyone contact him?” 

There was a beat of silence. 

“Lydia might still have his number,” Stiles said from his position leaning against the wall. 

“I’ll see if she does, and if she can text him,” Scott said, giving Stiles an out if he didn’t want to talk to Lydia. “Until we get everyone here, is there anything that we can do?” 

“Research, I guess,” Kira said. “Maybe we can figure out what this thing is, get a head start.”

The pack looked to Stiles, who sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get started.”

The meeting went on for a few more minutes, then dispersed, with instructions from Scott to eat and sleep. Theo and Liam left together, which didn’t go unnoticed, by either Scott or Derek. Derek caught up with Stiles outside. 

“I can help,” he said. “With the research.”

Stiles looked startled, but his lips curved into a smile, one that Derek hadn’t seen since they’d arrived. 

“Thanks, man. I could use the help,” Stiles admitted. The two of them got into the Jeep and drove off. 

Derek admittedly had a few ulterior motives to helping Stiles with research. He wanted to spend time with him- his wolf almost demanded it, howling at the idea of being separated for too long after such a long time away. But beyond that, Derek would do anything to erase the stench of fear that was coming off of Stiles, the flinching whenever someone made a loud noise, that had been happening since the mention of a fox. 

The sooner they found out what the entity was, the sooner Stiles would be back to normal. And that was all Derek cared about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, here's the next chapter! I honestly planned this to be a mostly sterek centric fic, but at this point it's turning into a split between sterek and thiam in terms of relationships. Not that I'm complaining, they're both so much fun to write. Thank you to everyone who's been reading, and leaving comments or kudos, and I hope you guys enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

Sunlight was streaming in from the windows, painting a bright picture across the back of Stiles’s eyelids. He let out a half hearted groan in protest, raising his head from where it rested on his desk. Paper stuck to his cheek, nearly ripping the book that he had fallen asleep on. He blinked, looking around. 

It was strange, being back in his childhood bedroom again, but even stranger to see Derek Hale slumped across his bed. The werewolf was in a deep sleep, face unlined and peaceful as he rested. Derek looked younger in his sleep, Stiles noticed, as though the years and tragedies that caused him to grow up before he was ready just melted away. 

It took a moment for reality to sink in. Stiles hadn’t slept since he picked up Derek, two days ago now. While he was a master of pulling all nighters, that plus the little sleep he got during finals week before all of the craziness started, it was really starting to catch up to him. 

His stomach sank at the thought of Lydia. Was she still at the clinic with Deaton? Should he try to go and see her? She clearly didn’t want to speak to him yesterday, and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. He’d been a shit boyfriend, and that resulted in Hayden’s death. How could she not hate him? 

He swallowed back a lump in his throat, turning back to his desk. Stacks of books loomed around the edges, and there were three open at various points. Some of them were from Deaton’s library, some of them were from Stiles’s own collection. He knew that Mason was working on research too- Stiles had to admit, it was nice to have another human in the pack, especially one as smart as Mason. He was getting tired of carrying the singular brain cell of the pack at all times. 

Stiles’s phone rang, startling Derek awake. Derek jumped to his feet, eyes flashing, before he figured out where the sound was coming from. 

“Down, boy,” Stiles said, hiding a smile as he reached for the phone. 

“That’s a nice way to thank me for helping with research. Dog jokes,” Derek said, sitting back down on the bed and running his hands through his hair. A shiver ran down Stiles’s spine. Seeing Derek in his bed, hearing Derek’s morning voice (how did one man sound so goddamn sexy??) was a bit much for all of Stiles’s remaining teenage fantasies. And adult fantasies. And any other kind of fantasy you could think of. 

“I think you secretly love them,” Stiles responded. Before Derek could say anything else, he answered the phone. 

“Scotty, what’s the news?” 

“Malia just got in, she’s at the airport. We’re gonna meet at my place as soon as she gets there. Like half an hour?” Scott said on the other line. 

“Copy that, oh captain my captain,” Stiles said, before hanging up the phone. 

“Meeting at Scott’s in half an hour,” he relayed to Derek. 

“Yeah, I heard. Werewolf ears, remember?” Derek said. 

“Well, that explains their size,” Stiles muttered. “Come on, I need coffee more than I need air in my lungs.” 

The two of them trudged downstairs, where Derek could smell the coffee already brewing. The Sheriff was standing in the kitchen. They saw him briefly the night before, filling him in on the situation. Derek was surprised at how friendly the welcome the Sheriff had given him had been. 

“Sleep at all, boys?” John asked as they walked in. 

“Weirdly, yeah,” Stiles replied. “You’d think I’d be way too amped up to sleep, but I guess I nodded off.”

“Well, given that you haven’t slept for two days, I think that makes sense,” Derek said under his breath. John heard him, and laughed. Stiles was indignant. 

“I didn’t sleep for two days because I was picking up your ass all the way out in Mexico!” 

Derek raised an eyebrow. “You could have slept in the car. I was driving.” 

Stiles’s heart rate picked up a bit as he remembered why he hadn’t been sleeping. Derek seemed to realize the mistake, and winced apologetically. 

John’s eyes were flicking back and forth between the two of them, and an expression that was too understanding for Stiles’s liking came over his face. 

“So, Daddy-O, we’ve got to go over to Scott’s,” Stiles said, hastily changing the subject, pouring coffee into a pair of thermoses. He handed one to Derek, who sipped at it gratefully. 

“Before you head out, Stiles, can I talk to you for a second?” John asked. Derek took the hint, and went to wait in the car, giving them some privacy. 

“What’s up?” Stiles asked, leaning against the counter.

“I know this is how you cope with things, son, with the humor and the smart remarks, but I want to make sure you’re holding up ok,” John said, a soft look on his face. 

Stiles stiffened. He knew his dad meant well, but the last thing he wanted to talk about was his mental well-being. 

“I… yeah. I’m holding up as well as can be expected, I guess,” he replied awkwardly, trying to shrug the question off. His dad knew what he was doing, obviously, but also knew Stiles well enough not to push it. 

“Well, you can talk to me. If you need to. I don’t think any of you kids are really ok in this situation,” he said with a sigh. 

“I know, Dad,” Stiles said softly. The sheriff gave him a sad smile. 

“Good. I’m glad Derek’s back,” he said, changing the subject. “I think he’s good for you. All of you.” 

There was a twinkle in his eye that let Stiles know that he clearly wasn’t talking about the pack at all. 

“Dad, please shut up,” Stiles groaned. 

***

It turns out that Malia wasn’t the only one who made it into Beacon Hills. Mason had gone to pick her up, and came back with Isaac in tow as well. A general outcry went up at his appearance, Scott rushing over to embrace his friend and former packmate. 

“Geez, no one’s excited to see me?” Malia said. She and Stiles shared a smile from across the room, and she made her way over to hug him. 

“It’s good to see you,” she whispered in his ear. 

“Likewise,” Stiles said. He and Malia were on good terms now, and Stiles was really grateful for her friendship. She had a no bullshit attitude that he always found refreshing. 

She let go of him, and saw Kira across the room. The kitsune gave her a small wave. Stiles glanced back and forth between them, and he knew Scott was doing the same. Scott must have been giving off some kind of nervous smell- Malia looked over at him with a wrinkled nose. 

Scott and Malia hooked up senior year, Stiles knew that, but then Malia left to go to France. It didn’t really seem like they were gonna pursue anything, but Kira being there could still be awkward. 

Turns out, there was nothing to worry about. Malia ran over to Kira and grabbed her in a tight embrace, picking the smaller girl up off of the ground. Kira let out a laugh, a real one, that Stiles hadn’t heard since she came back. He could see Scott visibly relax, and the atmosphere became much easier in the house. Not happy- the fog of grief and apprehension still hung over each and every one of them, but this felt familiar. It felt good. Stiles wasn’t even a wolf, he didn’t have the same pack bond, and even he could feel the reassurance of having them there. He could only imagine how it felt for a wolf. 

Stiles’s eyes drifted to Derek. He was standing awkwardly in the corner, eyes following Isaac, with his arms crossed on his chest. When Isaac finished saying hi to everyone, he walked over to Derek. Derek relaxed the closer that Isaac got, and he wrapped his arms around the beta, whispering something in his ear. The embrace was brief, but both of them looked more settled as they pulled apart, and they remained close together. 

Stiles felt a pang in his chest. He thought Derek was alone for all those years he spent in Mexico. The other man mentioned that Isaac visited occasionally, but hadn’t said anything to indicate that they were that close. It made sense, Isaac was Derek’s first beta, and Stiles knew wolves didn’t do well alone, but he hadn’t thought that they were still pack. 

Another thing to feel guilty about, he guessed. Add it to the list: dragging Derek and his apparently happy pack into this goddamn mess, that he could have stopped from happening. 

Derek’s eyes found him, and he muttered something to Isaac. The younger wolf grinned, and strode over to Stiles with a smirk. 

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Stiles said in an attempt to regain his usual personality. Isaac looked good, he had to admit. He looked healthy, and as smug as ever, but it also looked like he was more at home in his own skin. He didn’t flinch at every movement, didn’t seem to be overcompensating with the swagger and posture that he used to. The swagger was now just a part of his personality. 

“Stiles,” Isaac greeted. Before Stiles could react, Isaac swooped in, wrapping his arms around Stiles in an enthusiastic hug. Stiles felt his feet lift off of the floor, and he yelped. He heard Derek sniggering in the corner, and any sharp retort he might have made fell flat in his mouth at the sight of Derek’s grin. 

***

Seeing Isaac was like a breath of fresh air for Derek. He saw Isaac occasionally, but it was always just the two of them. Isaac joined Scott’s pack, back before either of them left Beacon Hills, and a part of Derek always worried that he was just a temporary pack for the beta, until he decided he wanted to go back to his real one. It was clear now that that wasn’t the case. Isaac, as much as he clearly loved Scott and the rest, was more antsy around them, more out of place. He visibly relaxed when he was near Derek, and Derek was happy that he could still offer some comfort to Isaac. He wasn’t a good alpha, when he was an alpha, and he was really trying to do better. Even just as a friend.

It was a distraction, too, from worrying about Stiles. Stiles had only slept for a couple of hours the night before, and not at all for days before that. The dark circles under his eyes seemed like a permanent fixture, weighing him down, and the smell of caffeine was as strong as if there was an IV in his veins, dripping the stuff into his bloodstream. It reminded Derek of… well, of the Nogitsune, how Stiles hadn’t slept for weeks during the possession. 

He could be reading too far into things, he knew, worrying where there was no reason to worry. They were all on edge, all tired. There was no reason Stiles should be any different. What he wasn’t reading into, however, was the guilt that he knew Stiles felt over dragging him into this. Guilt was a smell that he was very familiar with, specifically Stiles’s signature brand of self-hating guilt. It got heavier when the younger man saw Derek and Isaac together. Derek worried that Stiles thought… that he was a stand-in, or something, for Isaac, someone that Derek was hanging around until his “real” pack showed up. 

So he sent Isaac over, with a whispered “I think Stiles missed you, you know,” showing Stiles that he wasn’t left out of this, even with Isaac there. It worked- the scent of anxiety eased off of Stiles a bit, and his mouth curved into a smile, a genuine one. Derek preened a bit internally. He caused that. He made Stiles smile. 

Stiles’s smile faded, though, when the door opened again. Lydia and Jordan arrived. Lydia looked drawn and pale, the similarities between her own complexion and Stiles’s shocking. Jordan, as expected, was at her side. He was hovering anxiously, but Lydia was walking on her own. She wore an oversized shirt and leggings, more undone than Derek had ever seen the younger woman. He knew Lydia took great pride in her appearance. 

The pack fell silent. Lydia looked around, eyes scanning over all of them. She skipped over Stiles entirely. It wasn’t until she saw Malia that she let a small smile grace her features. She made her way over to sit next to the were-coyote, leaning into her side when she got there. Malia looked startled, glancing back and forth between Stiles and Lydia. Stiles avoided her gaze. 

Scott stood up at the front of the room. Liam sat near the alpha, looking up at him expectantly. 

“So, everyone’s here. At least everyone that we could get in touch with,” he began. Kira’s lips were downturned in a frown, which Derek took into consideration. They were still missing Jackson. 

“So we need to come up with a game plan. I know Stiles, Derek, and Mason have all been doing some research into this thing. Any news on that front?”

Stiles tore his eyes away from Lydia, and cleared his throat. “Not anything big. We found some references to trapped spirits, but nothing that really matches the agenda of this one. There’s some reports of ghosts that mimic the voices of loved ones, but nothing powerful enough to do what happened at the Nemeton.” 

“Brett and I had an idea,” Mason chimed in. The pack turned to look at him. 

“Who’s he?” Isaac whispered to Derek. 

“Mason. New human,” Derek whispered back. 

“Go ahead, Mason,” Scott prompted. 

“I’m not sure we should be focusing so much on the mimic part,” Mason said. “That might help us narrow it down, but I think we should be looking for something that feeds on magic. Kira said that the Nemeton was drained, right? I think we can assume that this thing, whatever it is, is responsible for that.” 

Scott nodded slowly. “Stiles, Derek? Do you think that makes sense?” 

Derek noticed Mason’s face twist, and jumped in. 

“I think it’s a good angle,” Derek said. “Stiles and I found a lot of creatures that mimic, but the energy feeding seems like it would be rarer. Especially something that drained that much energy.” 

Mason smiled at him, part in surprise and part in gratitude. 

“All right, let's try to follow up on that,” Scott said in approval. “I think the rest of us should establish some patrols. This thing is out there, and we need to be on the lookout.”

There was a chorus of agreement, and a schedule was set up. Derek could have gotten out of the patrols, since he was involved with the research, but he knew Isaac would be more comfortable if they were on patrol together. 

He knew they would need as many wolves on deck as they could get. 

***

It was nighttime when Theo went on his patrol. Technically, he was supposed to be running with Liam. Scott insisted that they go in pairs, so that no one was left alone if they happened to come across whatever the hell this thing was. But Liam needed rest. He hadn’t slept since Hayden had been killed, and he finally fell asleep a couple of hours before they were supposed to leave. Theo was sure he would get a lecture, either from Scott or from Liam, about irresponsibility, but Theo could handle himself. It was more important for Liam to rest. 

Thinking of the anger prone werewolf was almost enough to bring a fond smile to Theo’s face, but he wiped it away quickly. He wasn’t a sap, as much as Liam threatened to make him one. There was just something about Liam that he was drawn to, that he’d been drawn to ever since he was brought back from Hell. They clashed more often than not- they were both stubborn, and angry, and still healing from the wounds that life had dealt them, but so far they seemed to make it work. Besides, teasing Liam was one of the things Theo looked forward to the most during the day. 

Though there wasn’t much teasing happening in the last couple of days, Theo mused. Not after Hayden. Her death seemed to have fundamentally changed their relationship. Maybe not changed, exactly, but brought things to light that had been hidden before. Theo had never been good at… Support. Or caring. About other people. But the second that Liam needed him, really needed him, he stepped up. That was as shocking to him as it apparently was to everyone else. The response made him wonder what kind of a man he would be, if the Dread Doctors never got to him. Maybe Liam was bringing that side out of him. 

Theo’s musings were interrupted by a loud noise coming from the forest. His head snapped up, and his eyes glowed yellow. He let his fangs drop, just in case, and began to quietly make his way towards the sound. If there was one thing Theo knew how to do, it was sneak around. 

He was moving for five minutes, and starting to feel like an idiot, when he smelled it. It was a smell Theo was unfortunately far too familiar with, a smell that had been part of his life since he was ten years old. 

Death. 

He stopped in his tracks, nostrils flaring. It was close, too close. His heart started pounding. He should have smelled that long before now. Why hadn’t he smelled it before? It was so strong it felt like it was suffocating him. He would have coughed, but he knew that whatever was smelling like that, whatever killed something in the woods, was probably still around, so he stifled it. 

There was a sound to his left, and he looked over just in time to catch a small movement through the trees. He ducked behind a tree trunk, heart pounding aggressively in his chest. He took a deep breath, and peered out from behind the tree. His blood ran cold. 

His brain actually wasn’t able to comprehend what he was seeing. There was a body, on the ground, he could tell that much. The smell of death came from that, but not just from that. Hunched over the body was…. Something. It was dark and writhing, its form moving in a sinuous way that made him think of a snake. It looked like it was made of shadow, or fog, maybe. He tried to focus his eyes on it, but it felt like staring straight into a cloud of smoke, and his eyes teared up. He squinted, and was barely able to make out an animal like form- but whatever that was definitely wasn’t an animal. The smell of death emanated from it the same way it came from the Nemeton the night he resurrected the other chimeras. 

The body on the ground was twisted, in the same way Scott said Hayden’s body was twisted. It looked like every bone in the body was broken. As he watched, the skin was stripped from the body, slowly, like it was being peeled. The skin disappeared into the creature. Theo nearly gagged. The smell was overwhelming. 

He shifted his foot slightly, and a twig cracked beneath it. Before he could whip his head back behind the tree, the creature turned what he thought was its head. Two orbs of light glowed from the shadows, so bright that Theo could feel his eyes burning. He was frozen in place, and couldn’t move. The creature didn't move either. It just… stared. 

A whimper came from Theo’s throat. He was glad he didn’t bring Liam into this. At least 

He knew that Liam was safe. 

It was the thought of Liam that gave him the strength to wretch his eyes away from the creature. He would be damned if he made Liam find his body in the woods. Plus, he had a pretty strong self preservation instinct, in all honesty. It was what made him a survivor. 

He ran through the woods, tripping over his own feet, but not daring to look back. It wasn’t until he was back within the bounds of the town that he started to slow. 

The creature hadn’t followed him. 

He started a slow jog back to Liam’s house, pulling out his phone. He raised it to his ear. 

“Hey, Scott. Yeah, I just saw it. In the woods. There was a body,” he said into the phone. Scott’s voice sounded on the other end. 

“No, I’m not hurt. I ran pretty quickly. No, I didn’t leave Liam there, asshole. We’ll be at your place in a bit. I don’t think anyone should go back out into the woods right now. It’s way too dangerous.”

By the time Theo hung up, with multiple reassurances of Liam’s safety and promises to be there “as soon as remotely possible, Scott, I got it.” he was back at Liam’s house. The light in Liam's room was one. Theo winced. Liam was awake. 

The door to the house flew open before Theo was even halfway up the stairs. 

“What. the hell. were you thinking??” Liam said. His tone was short and clipped. He’d thrown on a t-shirt and sweats hastily, clearly, since the shirt was on backwards. Theo, once again, had to suppress a fond smile. What the hell was Liam doing to him?

Rather than confront that train of thought, Theo just shrugged. 

“You were tired and you needed to sleep. But we have to go to Scott’s. I saw the thing.” 

Liam blinked. “Let me get this straight. You went on patrol alone, saw whatever the hell it was that killed Hayden, and you didn’t even fucking call me?”

Liam’s voice wobbled on the word Hayden. Theo frowned, and took a step towards Liam. 

“Don’t touch me, Theo.” Liam was angry, Theo realized. Very angry. Not playfully angry, or IED angry. Both of those he knew how to handle. Liam was really, truly angry. At him.

Theo didn’t know how to deal with that. 

“I had to call Scott first,” the chimera said. It was a weak defense and he knew it, only defending the latter part of the accusation. “And you needed to sleep. You would have just slowed me down with how tired you were.” 

Liam stepped backwards, looking like he’d been slapped in the face. “Slowed you down? I’m perfectly fucking capable of handling myself. I don’t actually need you to take care of me. You’re not my babysitter.”

Theo’s mind was racing. He knew he fucked up, fucked up colossally, but he didn’t know how to fix it. He was still learning how to be a real person, with real feelings, and social skills were not one of his talents. So he did what he did best. Fought back. 

“So if I’m not your babysitter, what am I? Your fuckbuddy? Bootycall? I’m not your boyfriend, since you’re too scared to tell Scott about us. So what am I?” he snapped. 

He expected Liam to get angry, to snap back, maybe punch him in the face. That was really how all this started. They hadn’t actually swung at each other since they kissed the first time, and since then all of their arguments had been more good natured. They were good at fighting. Ever since they met, fighting was how they solved things. But it didn’t seem like Liam had any fight left. The younger werewolf’s face went blank, and he stormed past Theo, slamming him with his shoulder. 

“Where are you going?” Theo called out after him. 

“To Scott’s. I’m walking.” Liam bit back. 

“Come on, just get in the truck. Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not the stupid one here,” Liam muttered under his breath. Theo swore, and got in his car. He couldn’t bring himself to leave Liam behind, though, so he ended up driving behind him the whole way. 

By the time they got to Scott’s, Theo was starting to panic. He didn’t know how to fix this. He wasn’t a fixer. He was a breaker. Maybe it was wrong to think he could really change. 

***

Stiles’s nails were ripped to shreds. He couldn’t stop chewing on them, bringing his hands to his mouth compulsively while Theo recounted his encounter in the forest. The chimera was shaken. His voice wobbled as he spoke, and his eyes darted back and forth around the room. Liam was studiously avoiding Theo’s gaze, had walked into the room and sat as far away from the other man as possible. Stiles, as aforementioned, typically held the singular brain cell of the pack, and he wasn’t as oblivious to Theo and Liam’s blossoming relationship as Scott was. He had mixed feelings about it, to be fair, but he knew it was happening. It seemed like they hit a bump in the road, though.

Stiles had to bring himself back to the conversation at hand. His thoughts were spiraling, going down any potential rabbit hole to avoid confronting what was really going on. He knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid it much longer, though. Ever since he got back to Beacon Hills, there was this energy in the air. His skin was buzzing, like static electricity was running through his veins, thrumming through his blood. It kept him up at night, almost like something was calling for him, physically pulling him in a certain direction. Into the woods. The woods where Theo had just seen a shadow feasting on a body. 

So that was good. 

“And then I just ran,” Theo finished. “Ran until I was out of the woods and back in the city. It didn’t follow me, at least not that I could tell.” 

Theo’s eyes flitted to Liam, and Stiles saw a heated glance pass between them. 

“Why wouldn’t it attack you? It didn’t have a problem attacking Hayden, apparently,” Malia said, blunt as always. Liam winced, and Scott put a hand on his shoulder. 

Theo shrugged. “How should I know? It just ate. Maybe it was full.”

“I doubt that,” Stiles said. He didn’t realize he said it out loud until everyone turned to face him. 

“What do you mean, Stiles?” Scott asked. 

“Nothing. Ignore me.” 

The others turned away, Scott giving him a weird look. Stiles brought his hand back up to his mouth, but it was intercepted by Derek. Stiles looked at him, startled. He and Derek were on the couch, squeezed shoulder to shoulder to make room for the rest of the pack. The other man was looking straight ahead, giving his attention to Scott, who was asking Theo a question, but his hand had come up to stop Stiles’s almost reflexively. He twined their fingers together, and brought them back down to the couch. Stiles fell still for the first time all day, eyes scanning Derek’s face, the dark stubble lining his cheeks, his green eyes, his very impressive eyebrows, furrowed in concentration. Stiles swallowed, and turned away, feeling his cheeks heat up. He was sure Derek could hear his heart, but he made no motion to pull away. 

From across the room, Malia was staring at them, eyebrows raised in amusement. Stiles made a face at her, and she rolled her eyes. 

“So, we need a plan of attack. It’s not just coming after us, it's coming after everyone.” Scott was standing at the front of the room. “If I had to guess, it's gaining strength. That might be why it didn’t go after Theo. We need to get rid of it before it gets too strong.”

“Are we sure it isn’t already too strong?” Brett asked from his seat next to Mason. At the affronted looks from the rest of the pack, he raised his hands in surrender. “Just asking. We don’t know anything about it.”

“It’s a fair question,” Isaac chimed in. 

Scott grimaced. “It is. But I do think we can beat it. That’s what the skinwalker message said. They wouldn’t have sent Kira if it was hopeless.”

“We can’t attack it now,” Kira’s voice sounded from the floor. She was seated cross legged on the ground in front of Derek, her dark hair up in a bun. She’d washed her face- the war paint was no longer on her cheeks. 

Scott turned to her. “Kira, we talked about this.”

“No, I talked, and you didn’t listen.” 

Stiles’s eyes widened. Scott and Kira never fought. They were both too nice for fighting. This was completely unprecedented.

“Wait, why can’t we attack it now?” Liam asked. 

“Because the pack isn’t complete. We only have a chance if the pack is whole. We still don’t have Jackson.” Kira’s voice was firm, her stare leveled at Scott even though she was speaking to Liam. 

“Yeah, but we can’t get ahold of Jackson. People are dying, we can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Scott argued. 

“We don’t stand a chance without the whole pack, Scott! That’s the whole point of the message!” Kira shot back. The pack was watching the two of them like a tennis match, heads moving back and forth between the alpha and the kitsune, eyes wide. 

“That isn’t your decision, it's mine,” Scott said, a hint of a growl running through his voice. His eyes were beginning to glow, and Stiles decided to step in. 

“Cool it, both of you!” he said exasperatedly. Scott and Kira stopped in their tracks, both turning to look at him. “Scott, Kira’s right about the pack being incomplete. I don’t think we can ignore the skinwalkers.” 

Kira gave him a grateful smile. Stiles pointed at her. 

“Don’t get too comfortable, missy. Scott’s also right that we can’t just sit here if people are dying. You should know that. You know how this pack works. And we don’t know if Jackson is ever going to show up. So we need a compromise here. Work it out.”

He leaned back into his seat, rolling his eyes. “Stubborn idiots,” he muttered. Derek stifled a laugh next to him, a low rumble in his chest. 

Scott and Kira both looked adequately ashamed of themselves. 

“Lydia, any idea on how to contact Jackson? I know you’ve tried his number, but...” Scott trailed off. Stiles let his eyes glance over at the redhead from where she sat next to Malia. He was relieved to see her looking more like herself, sitting with her usual impeccable posture. 

“No. The number was the only way I had to contact him, and I don’t even know if it's working anymore,” she said. Her voice was still raspy. “I’ve reached out to Danny, but he doesn't have an idea either. Jackson pretty much cut all contact.” 

Scott grimaced. “Ok, well, we have to keep trying. Maybe Parrish can do some sleuthing.” 

The deputy nodded in agreement. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Then we need to figure out what to do in the meantime. I can’t let it kill anyone else,” Scott said, looking around the room. 

“What about the sheriff? Maybe he can put a curfew in place or something. Keep people out of the woods, at least,” Liam piped up from the corner of the room. 

“That’s not a bad idea. Stiles, can you take care of that?” 

“Yessir,” Stiles said with a salute. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lydia looking at him, but when he turned his head, she was looking away intently. 

They floated a few more ideas, but there wasn’t much else they could figure out to do. Stiles and Derek drove back to his house together, the car ride silent. They filled the sheriff in on the situation, and he promised to figure something out at the station. Then they filed up to Stiles’s room. The younger man collapsed into his desk chair, gazing down at the book that he left open the night before.

Derek was hovering. He had a tendency to do that. Stiles was going to ignore him, but after about three minutes of Derek standing behind him, he turned around. 

“Can I help you?” 

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Are you ok?” 

Stiles blinked. “Never better. Peachy keen. Why?” 

Derek let out an exasperated huff. “Stiles. You…” he hesitated. “You can talk to me. You said something weird at the meeting, remember? What the hell was that about?” 

The earnest expression on Derek’s face wore down Stiles’s defenses quickly, and he sighed, pushing back his chair until he was facing Derek. 

“Which weird thing?” 

“Theo wondered if it was full, and you said you doubted it,” Derek replied. He leaned on the edge of Stiles’s bed, hands resting on the comforter. 

Stiles began to bounce his leg, tapping his fingers on his thigh. Derek just waited. 

“Fine,” Stiles sighed. “It’s just… with… ugh.” 

He ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up. “With the nogitsune. I remember how that felt.”

His speech was halting, almost stuttering. Stiles rarely had difficulty vocalizing his thoughts, but he was having to force this one out word by word. 

“This feels like the Nogitsune?” Derek asked softly. 

“Not exactly. But the Nogitsune fed on chaos, right, strife. And nothing was… it was always hungry. It was never enough. I feel like this is the same kind of thing. It’s always hungry, and it won’t stop until we stop it.” 

He said the last part with a certainty that he hadn’t realized he felt. Derek was scrutinizing him intensely, his gaze so fierce that Stiles had to avert his own. 

“You never talk about it,” Derek said abruptly. “The possession.” Stiles let out a short laugh. 

“No, I don’t.”

“You could, you know. If you needed to.”

Stiles’s face turned stony. “And who would I talk to, exactly? Can you name someone that I didn’t hurt when I was possessed? Allison died because of me, Derek. Scott may have forgiven me, but I could never talk about this with him. Or with Lydia, because Allison was her best friend! Even my dad-” he cut himself off. 

Derek’s expression didn’t change, he didn’t rise to the bait the way Stiles expected. 

“I meant you could talk to me, Stiles.”

The sentence hung in the night air between them as Stiles raised his amber eyes to meet Derek’s green ones. The tension was so tight between them that it felt like a string about to snap. Not a string, Stiles thought, a rubber band, one that would rebound and sting you when it broke. Stiles was scared of that rebound, he realized, because as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he hurt Derek, too. They never talked about it, never talked about what the Nogitsune did, and Stiles thought that if he admitted that he remembered it, he would lose Derek forever. So he swallowed hard around the lump in his throat, and spoke. 

“I can’t.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is up! We are starting to get more into the action now, with some added mystery and pining as a treat. Isaac and Malia are two of the loves of my life, so I'm so excited that they're finally making an appearance. Thank you so much to anyone reading, and a special thanks to anyone leaving comments or kudos, they keep me writing! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

Stiles was woken by a soft tapping on the door. He rubbed his eyes blearily, standing up, stretching until he felt his spine pop. He looked at the bed, where Derek had usually been sleeping, but the werewolf was gone. After their conversation the night before, the tension between them had been too much for either man to handle, and Derek made excuses, leaving to see Isaac. Stiles felt a pang in his chest when he remembered, but brushed it off. Scott was standing at the door, his hair mussed as though he had just gotten out of bed. He had dark circles under his eyes, and Stiles knew his friend probably hadn’t slept at all. 

“Hey, Scotty, what’s going on? What time is it?” he asked, voice cracking. His throat was dry. He realized he hadn’t had anything to drink since the morning before. Those kinds of things slipped through the cracks when life or death situations were happening. 

Scott grinned his trademark lopsided smile, but there was an edge of exhaustion behind it. 

“It’s one pm, Stiles,” he said. Stiles blinked, looking over at the clock on his bedside table. 

“Well, shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep that long. Did I miss anything?” 

Scott shook his head. “Nah, its ok. You needed your sleep, man. I could smell the insomnia on you, it was driving me crazy.” 

Stiles clapped a hand on Scott’s shoulder. “Well, I need a huge cup of coffee and probably something to eat. You hungry?”

“Always,” Scott replied. 

Stiles checked his phone while he and Scott were in the kitchen, a pan of eggs sizzling on the stove. A text from his dad, saying the curfew was being put into place. A text from Malia, that just had a winky face, probably about Derek holding his hand during the pack meeting. He texted her a thumbs down. Weirdly, a text from Isaac, but nothing from Derek. He opened Isaac’s message. 

_ D is moping with me at Scott’s. Trying to pretend he’s not moping. Can y'all stop fighting please _

Stiles rolled his eyes. He typed out a response. 

_ We didn’t fight. I think it's your sunny personality that’s causing it.  _

“Everything ok?” Scott asked. Stiles looked up. 

“I guess so. Considering everything.” He shrugged. 

Scott obviously didn’t believe him. He dished out a plate of eggs, and the two of them sat down. 

“I’m not trying to pry, but I know you’re not ok. You can talk to me, you know.” 

Scott’s words unwittingly echoed Derek’s from the night before, striking a chord in Stiles. He shoved a forkful of food into his mouth to avoid answering, but Scott was using those goddamn puppy eyes, so there was no chance he was getting out of this. 

“Fine, fine, jeez. No need to bring out the big guns,” he grumbled. Scott cocked his head. 

“What big guns?”

“Oh, you know what you’re doing, don’t play dumb with me,” Stiles said, pointing his fork at Scott. Scott’s look was just a bit too innocent, until he broke into a grin. 

“Yeah, ok. But seriously, talk to me. What the hell is going on with you and Lydia?” 

Stiles sighed, falling dramatically back into his chair. “Well, besides the fact that I’m pretty sure she hates me now? I don’t know. She won’t talk to me. I don't blame her, or anything, but it's hard to get a read on anything when there’s zero communication.” 

Scott winced sympathetically. “Yeah, it's been pretty frosty between you guys.” 

“She tried to get in touch with me. After her mom,” Stiles said, a lump forming in his throat. “I didn’t answer her. I’m her boyfriend, or I was, or whatever, but I was supposed to be there for her. And where was I? Driving to Mexico to get Derek? I could have answered my goddamn phone.” 

“You know this isn’t your fault, right?” Scott said. “This thing was coming no matter what. You just made a mistake. You’re young, dude, we all are.”

“It was a pretty colossal fuck up, Scott.”

“Maybe, yeah. But I really hope you guys can talk it out.”

“Honestly, I think it might… I think it might be over. With me and Lydia,” Stiles admitted, resting his elbows on the table. “I think it was over before all of this, but it’s almost definitely over now.” 

“It might be. But you guys were friends. I hope you can get back to that, at least,” Scott said in an attempt to comfort him. 

“Thanks, Scotty. Me too.”

Scott got a sly look on his face that Stiles didn’t like at all. 

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Derek...” the alpha started. Stiles flailed, almost falling out of his chair. 

“We don’t talk about this, Scott! We made a pact!” he hissed. Scott held up his hands in defense. 

“I just mean-” 

“Nope. We don’t talk about it. Shut your adorable face up.” 

Scott smiled to himself. “Look, all I’m saying is that Derek was moping pretty severely over at my place last night, after he went back to yours with you. Did you guys fight or something?”

“Ugh, Isaac asked me that too. No, we didn’t fight. Just had a slightly uncomfortable conversation that I will not be repeating to you.” Stiles said, crossing his arms. 

“Ok, fair enough,” Scott replied, taking a bite of his eggs. 

Stiles waited until he was about to swallow, then asked “So what’s going on with you and Kira?” 

Seeing Scott choke on his eggs was worth getting interrogated. 

Before Scott could answer, there was a knock on the door. 

“We’re continuing this conversation later,” Stiles said, making his way to the front of the house. When he opened the door, he stepped back, nearly falling over. 

Jackson Whittemore was standing at his doorstep, looking like he hadn’t changed an ounce since they last saw him. He wore ripped jeans and a white shirt, his blonde hair slicked back, and his icy blue eyes piercing into Stiles’s own. He walked in without so much as a greeting. 

“Is Lydia here?” he asked. Scott had leapt out of his seat, eyes wide, and was hovering by the table in shock. 

“Huh?” Stiles managed to get out. That was as articulate as he was able to get. 

“Huh?” Jackson imitated. “Lydia wasn’t at her place, so I thought she might be here. Is she?” 

“She’s at Malia’s,” Scott said. Jackson nodded. 

“Who the hell is Malia?” he asked. 

“Were-coyote,” Stiles responded automatically. “How did you get here?” 

Jackson sighed. “Look, man, I’m not really here for you. I know Lydia’s mom died, I got her text. I came to see if she was all right.”

“Did you get any of her other texts?” Scott asked. 

Jackson looked confused. “What other texts?”

“All right lizard boy, you’ve got some catching up to do,” Stiles said. Jackson bristled at the mention of his time as a kanima. 

“So fill me in,” he spit out. 

So Stiles did, while Scott called everyone else over to the house. By the time the explanation was done, a few pack members began to file in. Derek and Isaac were first, Derek placing a hesitant hand on Jackson’s shoulder, which Jackson tensed at, but didn’t outright reject. Derek shot a look at Stiles, then made his way back over to Scott. Isaac, strangely, stood next to Stiles, rolling his eyes at Derek. 

“Can you two make up already?” The blonde werewolf hissed. “Derek’s annoying when he’s sad.”

“Derek’s sad?” Stiles whispered back. Issac nodded with an exasperated look.

"You can't tell? he asked. His eyes roved over Jackson.

“Worried you’re gonna lose your spot as our resident blond asshole?” Stiles said, changing the subject. Isaac elbowed him, a bit harder than necessary. 

Mason and Brett were next, followed by Liam. Theo walked in a moment later, not with Liam, but too close for his arrival time to be a coincidence. 

Finally, Kira strode in, followed by Malia and Lydia. 

“So what’s this about?” the werecoyote asked, glancing around until her eyes landed on Jackson. “Oh. Nevermind.” 

Lydia looked up, and stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell slightly open.

“Jackson?” her voice was a whisper, barely perceptible to someone who didn’t have supernatural hearing. 

Jackson had leapt to his feet the second she walked through the door, and for a moment, his douchebag facade dropped, his expression open and vulnerable as he looked at Lydia. 

“Hey,” he said softly. “I got your text.” 

Lydia let out a choked laugh, and suddenly ran towards him, flinging herself into his arms. Jackson caught her effortlessly, holding her tight around the waist, burying his face in her hair. 

Stiles looked away. He was reminded of why Jackson and Lydia worked together, and was hit with the realization that if Jackson had stayed in Beacon Hills, he and Lydia never would have gotten together. He never would have stood a chance. If their relationship wasn’t over before, it definitely was now. 

He caught Derek staring at him from the corner of his eye, an unreadable expression on his face. 

Jackson and Lydia finally released each other, and sat back down, Lydia pressed as close to Jackson as she could manage. She glanced at Stiles, her expression open for the first time since they were reunited. Stiles gave her a smile, and shrugged. A smile crept over her own lips, and a tension eased in Stiles’s chest. They would be ok. He wouldn’t have to lose a friend over this. 

Scott stood at the head of the group, Kira next to him. He glanced at the Kitsune, and she nodded in response. 

“The pack is complete,” she said. “Let’s kill this thing.” 

***

Well, they couldn’t exactly kill this thing, as Kira put it, without knowing what it was first. So that day found Stiles, Derek, Mason, Brett, and Kira poring over books at the vet clinic. Deaton, with a put-open expression, shut down the clinic for the foreseeable future, giving it up as a research space until the thing was dealt with. 

Stiles rolled his shoulders, and Derek watched him with an almost tortured expression. Derek was never good at apologies at the best of times, and despite some rather extensive therapy (which he had taken a year back, at Isaac’s request), this was one area that he hadn’t improved. Especially when he wasn’t sure what he did wrong. Should he apologize for leaving? For bringing up the Nogitsune in the first place? Even if he had good intentions, he knew that was a triggering subject for Stiles. He didn’t think he needed to apologize for asking Stiles if he wanted to talk about it, even though it was a departure from the well practiced act that the both of them kept up around each other. He paid the price for it, though. Things were awkward between them again, and he didn’t like it. 

He especially didn’t like being at odds with Stiles when Stiles looked nearly good enough to eat. His brow furrowed in concentration, impatiently pushing his glasses back up when they slid down his nose, his obscure graphic tee riding up when he stretched to show a sliver of skin at his waist. Derek had always been attracted to Stiles, at least on some level, but the other man had grown into his looks since Derek had seen him last. 

He realized he was staring, and he glanced back down at the book in front of him, though he wasn’t really reading it. His face heated up, a flush painting his cheeks. He hoped his heartbeat wasn’t too out of the ordinary, or else Brett and Kira would definitely notice. 

He was startled out of his reverie by an exclamation from Stiles. 

“I think I found something.” 

The group stood up collectively, going to hover over Stiles’s shoulder. Derek heard Stiles's heart rate pick up as he leaned in, nearly brushing Stiles’s shoulder with his arm. The proximity made his skin prickle. 

“So…. can anyone actually pronounce that, or am I having a stroke?” Mason said to the room at large. 

Derek scanned the page. 

“ Pinčiukas ?” He tried. Stiles looked up at him, incredulous. 

“Do you speak Lithuanian and you just never told me?” Stiles said. “How the hell did you know how to pronounce that?” 

Derek shrugged. “No, but I speak a little polish. I’m good with languages.” 

Stiles was clearly itching to say something more, but stopped himself, shaking his head. “Well, anyway, I guess this thing is supposed to be a devil figure, but it's really portrayed as a trickster. That fits with the mimicry and with the immense power, right? And the illustration is a kind of shadowy figure, which fits with Theo’s description.”

Stiles glanced at Kira. She was mouthing something to herself, tapping her fingers against her hand. She looked up at him, and her eyes were dark. 

“I think you might be onto something,” she said. “The shadow part definitely fits Theo’s description. Maybe we should ask Lydia. She was the one it used, she’s had the most contact with it.”

“Brett and I can get her,” Mason piped up. Brett nodded in agreement. 

“All right, thanks,” Kira said with a nod to the two of them. Derek noted how much Kira had changed after she left the pack. She was falling into the role of leader, and taking to it well. The skin walkers were doing her good, he thought. It was too bad she had to give up so much to reach that point. She would have made a strong partner to Scott, if that was what she wanted. 

“I’m gonna call Scott.” Kira strode out of the room, leaving Derek and Stiles alone for the first time since their conversation. 

Derek tried to find his voice, but was struggling even more than usual. Luckily, Stiles broke the silence. 

“You know, you might be able to pronounce my real name,” Stiles said. His leg was bouncing up and down, and he wasn’t looking directly at Derek. “Since you speak Polish, I mean.” 

Derek blinked. “Your real name?” 

“Yeah, you didn’t think my name was actually Stiles, did you?”

He took Derek’s confused silence as a yes. 

“Well, it's Polish, and literally nobody can pronounce it. It was my mom's choice, I don’t even think my dad can say it.” 

Derek nodded slowly. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. Stiles didn’t talk about his mom often, and he wasn’t really prepared for that to come up. 

“Well, I could give it a try,” he said. 

“You could. Not now though. No one’s called me that since Mom died. But I’ll write it down for you sometime, see if you can say it.” Stiles’s voice was quiet, and Derek winced. They fell back into an awkward silence. 

He cleared his throat, and moved away from Stiles. He was going to sit back down when he felt a hand around his wrist, Stiles’s slender fingers holding firmly enough that it stopped him, but gently enough that Derek could pull away if he wanted to. 

“I’m sorry,” Stiles said, voice echoing through the clinic. His amber eyes stared up at Derek, sincere. “This whole thing sucks. You were trying to do something nice, and I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” 

Derek blinked. “Why are you apologizing?” he asked dumbly. Stiles quirked a brow. 

“Because I was acting like an asshole to someone who’s been there for me through this shitshow?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Derek said. 

“Yeah I did-”

“No, I shouldn’t have pushed you. You put down a boundary and I didn’t listen,” Derek cut him off, words coming automatically. Stiles let out a bemused laugh. 

“Ok, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word boundary, dude. What did you do with Derek?” 

Derek grinned, the knot in his chest loosening. This was more familiar.

“Derek went to therapy,” he replied, leaning against the edge of the table. “Learned some new words.”

Stiles’s eyes widened. “Shit, really? Sorry, I didn’t mean to- I think that’s really cool,” he finished, stumbling on a few of his words. Derek shook his head fondly.

“It’s fine, I’m not embarrassed. It just didn’t come up before this.” He shifted. “It was Isaac’s idea, to be honest. It… helped. With processing.” 

He noticed with a jolt that Stiles hadn’t removed his hand from Derek’s wrist. In fact, his thumb was absentmindedly stroking Derek’s pulse point. His breath caught in his throat as he fixated on the small movement. 

“Good, you shouldn’t be embarrassed,” Stiles said. “Literally everyone we know needs therapy. Extensive therapy. Including me,” he finished, voice lowering. “I’m still sorry, you know. I don’t want things to be weird with us. I just got you back, man.” 

Stiles’s voice was raw and honest, and Derek instinctively flipped his hand, grabbing Stiles’s. Stiles swallowed hard, looking down at their entwined fingers. 

“Stiles…” Derek started. The words were on the tip of his tongue- how much he missed Stiles when he was gone, how often he thought about the other man, the revelation he had when he heard Stiles’s jeep in his driveway- but they died when the door to the clinic swung open with a chime. Stiles started, pulling his hand from Derek’s, and Derek felt the loss acutely. 

Lydia strode in. and Derek’s heart sank. 

***

Stiles’s brain was a mess. One moment, Derek was holding his hand, looking at him in a way that made Stiles’s stomach turn over in anticipation, and the next, Lydia was walking into the clinic, Jackson following closely behind her. His eyes snapped to her, but he couldn’t stop them from flitting back to Derek, who had sprung off of the table and was leaning against a wall, arms crossed. 

Lydia looked good, like her old self. Her hair was immaculately styled, she was back in her heels, and she even looked like she had a fresh manicure. When she found the time for that, he had no idea. Jackson was trailing after her like a lost puppy, even though he was trying to look tough. Lydia’s eyes met his, and just like at the pack meeting, he could tell there was no hostility between them. 

“Brett and Mason went to go meet Scott,” Lydia said. “They said you found something?” 

“Yeah, right here,” Stiles said, gesturing to the book. Lydia leaned over his shoulder, her hair brushing his shoulder. She smelled good, and the position was achingly familiar, reminiscent of their many nights studying or researching for the pack. But even with her right next to him, his attention was still largely focused on Derek, who’s expression was stony. Kira walked in a moment later, going to stand next to Derek. 

Lydia didn’t even need him to explain it- she took one look at the page, and nodded her head. “This is it. Almost definitely. Or something really close to it.”

“We should get this to the others,” Kira interjected. 

“You guys go ahead. I want to talk to Stiles for a minute. We’ll follow you.”

Lydia’s tone booked no room for argument. Kira took the book from her, and Derek followed her out of the door, steps stiff. Jackson lingered for a moment, looking at Lydia, then shot a sour look at Stiles. 

“If something happens-” he started threateningly. 

“Jackson, I’ll be fine. Banshee, remember? I can handle myself.” Lydia’s tone was stern, but Stiles recognized it from when she and Jackson were dating, a playful undercurrent to her words. 

Jackson left, albeit reluctantly. Stiles’s leg bounced up and down as Lydia took a seat next to him. 

“So-” he started. 

“No, it's my turn to talk,” Lydia interrupted. Her gaze was focused on him, and he was startled to see that her eyes were teary. 

“You weren’t there when I needed you, Stiles. You didn’t answer my calls or my texts for three days. My mother died, and I was alone, and I needed you. Not even as my boyfriend, but as my friend.”

Stiles hung his head. “Lydia, I’m so sorry-” 

“I’m not shaming you. I’m laying out the facts. I was pissed at you, and hurt. I’m not angry anymore, but I’m still hurt. Do you understand that?”

Stiles nodded. Lydia took a deep breath, and her voice softened. 

“This is over, right?” she asked quietly. Stiles looked up to meet her eyes, tears forming in his eyes. 

“I think so.” 

Lydia let out a choked laugh, swiping at her eyes. “It’s been over for a while, hasn’t it? But neither of us wanted to say that.”

Stiles let out a laugh in return. “Yeah. A couple of cowards, huh?” 

Lydia swatted at his arm. “Speak for yourself.” 

Their laughter stopped, the sound of it fading in the empty room. 

“Are we ok?” Stiles asked. “I don’t... You’re my best friend, Lyds.” 

“Scott’s your best friend,” she replied with a sniff. 

“Scott’s my brother,” Stiles said. “You’re my best friend. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when I should have been. I know I fucked up.” 

Lydia gave him a half smile. “Yeah, we’ll be ok. Life and death situations have a way of bringing people together, I guess.” 

Stiles reached over and took her hand. “I guess so.” 

The two of them stood up, and Stiles drew Lydia into a hug. She threw her arms around his shoulders. 

“I’m so sorry about your mom,” he whispered. Lydia began crying in earnest. 

A few long minutes later, they pulled away with teary smiles. 

“You know, I feel really good about this breakup,” Lydia said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Stiles laughed, a genuine, lighthearted one, and flung an arm around her shoulders as they left the clinic. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest, and he could finally start to breathe again. He and Lydia were always better as friends, anyway. 

***

“I’m sorry,” Stiles said, mouth gaping open, “fucking WHAT?” 

Derek’s mouth quirked into a half smile, eyes lingering on Stiles’s shocked face before glancing back to Jackson. Stiles, Jackson, Lydia and himself were waiting in Stiles’s house for the rest of the pack to arrive for a strategy session, and their conversation had gone a bit strange. 

“I said I haven’t seen Danny since we hooked up a while back,” Jackson said, voice and face deadpan. Lydia sat next to Stiles, hand over her mouth as she held back laughter. Her eyes were bright and twinkling. Derek was glad to see it, even if the sight of her and Stiles back together sent a pang through his chest. They had come back in such high spirits that there was no doubt they were back together- not that they had broken up in the first place, he supposed. 

“You and Danny?? You what??” Stiles was nearly speechless, mouth opening and closing rapidly as he tried to form words. 

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Didn’t really peg you as a homophobe, Stilinski. We tried it, but it didn’t work out. I think he’s back with Ethan.” 

The former kanima grinned, some of his ego leaking through. “I told him I was his type, though. I was right.” 

Lydia stopped trying to hold back her laughter, doubling over. Stiles elbowed her in the arm, but she didn’t stop laughing. 

“I’m not a homophobe! Lydia, defend me!” Stiles replied indignantly. “Come on, it’s Jackson!” 

“People can be bi, Stiles. I know that blows your little mind,” Jackson said. Though his expression was cool, Derek could see a glint of mischievousness in his eyes, and a comfort at going back to an old routine. 

“I know that, asshole,” Stiles said, gesturing aggressively to himself. Derek blinked. 

“What?” he interjected before he could stop himself. Stiles looked up at him, face reddening. 

“Uh, yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “Came to terms with it over this year, I guess.”

Derek’s throat was dry, and judging by the amused look Lydia was giving him, his staring had gone on a bit too long. 

“Uh, congratulations,” he said, trying to save himself, then winced. 

Stiles snorted. “Thanks, dude.” 

Stiles and Jackson went back to bickering, and Derek, while he tried to look involved in the conversation, was on another plane of reality. Stiles was bi. Stiles was, at least a little, into men. He had to dig his fingertips into his forearms to stop himself from wolfing out. He was so fucking close. So close to telling Stiles how he felt, and Stiles might have reciprocated. But he and Lydia were together, and he would have to be an absolute dick to mess with that. 

Derek had lost his chance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little pre-holiday chapter for you all! Jackson is back and we finally have a name for the creature. This was a really fun chapter to write, and I'm very excited to get more into the action in the next few chapters. A huge thank you to anyone leaving comments and kudos, seeing them always makes my day! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight TW for this chapter- Theo has some thoughts that could qualify as suicidal ideation. It's not explicit, but I thought I should add a warning anyway. More notes at the end of the chapter!

“So let me get this straight,” Theo’s voice drawled from the corner of the living room, where he was leaning against a wall, arms crossed. “Just in case the Dread Doctors, the Beast, and the Wild Hunt weren’t bad enough, now we get to take on… the devil? That’s what you’re saying, right?” 

Liam kept his eyes trained on Scott, much as they wanted to flick over to the chimera. He hadn’t spoken to Theo since he left to go on patrol by himself, and he was too stubborn to let that streak break. Or to give Theo any indication that he missed him. Which he didn’t. He was mad, of course he didn’t miss Theo. Theo was an asshole. Case closed. 

“It’s not the actual devil,” Lydia said with a huff. “Not in the Christian sense of the word, anyway. It’s a powerful entity that likely inspired the stories of  Pinčiukas. ”

The redhead was seated between Stiles and Deputy Parrish, who got off of his shift to make the strategy session. Jackson was staring at her from across the room, alternating between glaring at Parrish and gazing longingly at Lydia. The smell of jealousy coming off of him made Liam wrinkle his nose. 

“Right, because that makes it better,” Theo snapped. ” Liam winced at the anger in his voice. It was too reminiscent of pre-hell Theo. 

“Come on dude, don’t be a dick,” Malia interjected. 

“Excuse me for not wanting to participate in a suicide mission,” Theo muttered. “Go ahead, tell us all the genius plan to get rid of this thing.” 

“I’d like to know the plan too,” Malia admitted, returning her gaze to Scott. “There is a plan, right?” 

Scott shifted his stance, looking down at his feet. There was a collective groan from the pack. Liam frowned, standing up for his alpha. 

“That’s why we’re here, right? To come up with a plan? Scott doesn’t have to do everything himself,” Liam said. Scott gave him a grateful smile. 

“Deaton said he had some information, he’s on his way over now,” Scott explained. As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Brett sauntered over to it, taking his sweet time despite the urgency of the situation. One person seemed to appreciate it, at least. Mason’s eyes trailed over Brett’s figure, and Liam elbowed him. Mason rubbed his arm, glaring at Liam, and Liam mimed gagging. 

“Can you blame me?” Mason said in a low voice. Not low enough to escape Brett’s notice, if the wink he shot Mason was anything to go off of. 

Deaton swept in after the werewolf, making his way to Scott, shooting the alpha a kind smile. Liam didn’t think he’d ever seen Deaton phased. He wasn’t sure how he did it. 

“What did you find?” Scott asked. 

The vet cleared his throat. “I was going through some old records, of some of the emissaries that have served in this area long before it was ever a town, and I think I found a record of the first time this entity appeared.” 

A quiet swept over the pack. Liam felt himself leaning in subconsciously. 

“It was 500 years ago,” Deaton said. “Though the record wasn’t written down until much later, it passed down through oral history. A similar entity was described- dark, shadow-like, with an uncanny ability to mimic, luring people in to trap them. A trickster. The more it ate, they said, the more it grew in power, until it was nearly unstoppable. The emissary at the time didn’t think it could be stopped. He lost a daughter to the creature, and grew ever more determined to stop it, even when it seemed hopeless. It wasn’t until a young woman in the tribe found a particular tree that he began to form a plan.” 

“The nemeton,” Lydia said, voice flat. Deaton nodded. 

“Precisely. This is the first record we have of the Nemeton, actually. The young woman had a strong connection to the magic of the land, and was drawn to the power of the Nemeton. The emissary found a way to trap the entity in the Nemeton, which he believed was the only thing powerful enough to trap it for good. It seems it has remained there ever since.”

“Do you have the record of how he trapped it?” Stiles asked. 

“I do,” Deaton said, nodding slowly. “The ritual must be performed near the Nemeton, and requires a great deal of power. I believe there is enough power in the pack to perform it.”

Deaton’s eyes fixed on someone in the room, but looked away too quickly for Liam to see who it was.

“Hold up,” Mason said, “that thing drained the Nemeton. Like, drained it of all its magic. Can it even still trap  Pinčiukas ?”

Deaton nodded. “I believe so. The Nemeton is more powerful than any of you know. It acts as a center, a gathering point, for all of the supernatural energy in the area, which, as you can imagine, is excessive. I would be surprised if it wasn’t nearly restored by now. There are a few things I can do to help it along, as well. Though, if the entity continues to grow in power, it may well reach a point where it can drain the Nemeton completely. And that would be...”

“Bad?” Stiles snarked.

“Very.” The emissary confirmed. “And… well, there is something that you should know,” Deaton continued, “before you commit to the ritual.” 

Scott frowned. “What?” 

“During the ritual, the girl who discovered the Nemeton was killed. Drained of energy. The emissary was unsure if her death was caused by the entity or by the ritual itself.” 

This statement hung heavily in the air. Liam turned his head to Theo before he could stop himself, only to find the chimera looking back at him. Their eyes locked. 

“Is there a way to know? Which it was, I mean,” Kira said from the couch. 

“Not without performing the ritual. I’m sorry.” 

There was a long silence. Liam’s hands were trembling. Hayden already died because of this thing, and now someone else in the pack might have to die to get rid of it? It didn’t seem fair. 

“Thank you,” Scott said, quietly but sincerely. “At least now we know.” 

There was a beat, and then a scornful laugh came from the corner. 

“Excuse me?” Theo’s voice rang out. “At least now we know?” 

Scott blinked. “It could have been  Pinčiukas that killed the girl. It might not have been the ritual, and we know the ritual works. So I think we have to take the chance.” 

“So you’re telling me you’re willing to risk it? To risk the life of someone in your pack? You never struck me as an ends justify the means kind of guy, Scott.” Theo’s voice was tense and clipped, and Liam could smell the anger coming off of him in waves. Anger was an emotion he was used to smelling off of Theo, but there was a sharp undercurrent to this one that he couldn’t quite make out. He wasn’t very good at chemosignals yet. 

“I’m not,” Scott protested. 

“Really? Because you accepted that really quickly,” Theo said, voice rising with every word. “I would have thought you would try to find another way, at least. Use that as a last resort. That’s what a true alpha would do, right?” 

“Theo, I never said we wouldn’t try-” 

“Yeah, you did. We have to take the chance. Those were your words.”

“I mean I have to take the chance. If it came to it, I would do it myself,” Scott said. He flashed his eyes. “You need to stand down, Theo.” 

Liam tore his eyes away from Scott to look at Theo. Theo’s eyes were glowing blue, and his fangs were dropped. Liam smelled blood, and he saw red dripping from Theo’s fists, where his claws were cutting into his palms. 

“And what if you don’t get a choice? It didn’t seem like the other guy did, unless he chose to kill that girl and just didn’t work that into the story. So what happens when the ritual starts draining someone else? What if it’s Liam?” 

Both Theo and Scott’s eyes moved to the beta, who was frozen in his position on the ground. 

“I wouldn’t let that happen,” Scott growled. 

“Yeah, well, I’m not willing to even take the chance!” Theo yelled. 

Liam’s eyes were wide. Mason nudged him. 

“Uh, dude,” he hissed. “You might want to get involved here.” 

Before Liam could stand up, Kira was standing up, moving to Scott’s side. “I’m with Scott. I came here for a reason, to get rid of this thing. I don’t think the skinwalkers would have sent me on a suicide mission.” 

She stood so close to Scott that their arms touched, and Liam could see his alpha visibly relax. 

“Great, so you’re safe,” Theo hissed. “ Good for you. How about the rest of us?”

Scott bared his teeth, and Theo took a step back. The alpha’s power wasn’t something to be underestimated in a pack, but Theo was determined. 

Theo’s gaze fell on Liam again, and Liam was finally able to identify the undercurrent of emotion he could smell under the anger. Fear. But not for himself. 

_ Fear for me, _ Liam realized. And in that moment, his mind was made up. He got to his feet, slowly, Scott and Theo’s eyes following him. The look on Scott’s face made him wince as he made his way to Theo’s side. Theo was shocked, but the emotion was gone as quickly as it showed up. 

“Liam?” Scott asked. 

“Sorry, Scott,” Liam said softly. “I’m with Theo on this one.” 

He could see the moment that realization dawned for Scott as he looked between the two of them. He opened his mouth, but was cut off as Lydia spoke. 

“I’m with Scott. I know how powerful this thing is, and that was when it was trapped. We have to stop it as soon as we can. We take these kinds of risks every day.”

Jackson and Parrish were in agreement. 

“Well, I’m with Liam and Theo,” Mason spoke up unexpectedly. “This should be a last resort. We should try to find another way.” 

“We don’t have time to find another way,” Kira said, more frustrated than Liam had ever seen her. “People are dying, and that thing is only getting stronger!” 

“So one of us has to die to stop it?” Theo growled. 

“Just as selfish as ever, I see,” Stiles said, joining Scott’s side. “Never willing to lay down your life for someone else, huh?” 

“Shut up, Stiles,” Liam snapped. Stiles looked aghast. 

The eyes of the room were upon him, but Liam was only looking at Scott, willing him to understand. “Theo’s saved my life more than once. He sacrificed himself to save me when the Wild Hunt was here.”

He saw Scott’s face soften, but Stiles interjected. 

“Oh my god,” Stiles said, throwing his hands up. He looked expectantly at Derek, standing against the wall a few feet away. “Come on, Derek, can you talk some sense into him?” 

There was a pause, and then a heavy sigh from Derek. “I actually agree with him,” the older werewolf said, moving slightly to stand closer to Theo, Liam, and Mason. 

If Stiles looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. Liam had never actually seen Stiles speechless before. Derek stood next to Liam, and the younger wolf was grateful for his presence at his side. Derek set his jaw, mind clearly made up, though his eyes never left Stiles. The two of them seemed to be having a wordless conversation. 

Malia was on Scott’s side, though Liam sensed some hesitation on her part, and Brett and Isaac on theirs. 

“Enough!” Scott roared. His eyes were pure red now, and he was shifted, glaring around at the rest of them. Liam cowered- the effect of an alpha command was much stronger on him than on some of the others. Theo simply glared back, though Liam could feel him flinch. 

“If you have a problem with the plan, you take it up with me, but the final decision is mine.” 

“No, fuck that,” Theo spit out. “I don’t want anything to do with this bullshit.” 

He turned around, and made his way towards the door. 

“Theo, stop!” Scott’s voice was heavy, weighing down on Liam like a physical force. Theo stopped in his tracks, and turned slowly. His eyes were glowing. 

“No.” 

It looked like it cost him some effort, but he took the final few steps to the door, wretched it open, and left. The door swung back and forth on its hinges. 

Liam’s breath was coming quickly, staring out of the door. He had a choice to make. But as he pondered life without Theo, a life like the last two days, he realized it wasn’t a choice at all. 

He took a step towards the door.

“Liam.” Scott’s voice was sad, and tired. There was no command in it. He looked back at his alpha, and the pack standing near him. Then he looked back out the door. Theo’s scent hit him. He had to go after him. 

“I’m sorry, Scott,” he whispered. 

He half expected Scott to stop him, force him to stay. When the command didn’t come, he was shocked to find that it hurt.

***

The only thing Theo could hear was the rush of blood in his ears and the pounding of his feet on the pavement. His breath came in short, harsh pants, and everything was tinged with blue. He knew that he should try to reign in his eyes, at least- it was only early evening, the sun just starting to dip beneath the skyline, and there were sure to be other people around, but he wasn’t able to control his shift. 

What Scott said, the justification, was too similar to the reasoning Theo would use when he was still under the influence of the Dread Doctors. But this time, it wasn’t Josh or Tracy in danger, whose lives were on the line, it was Liam. He saw himself back in the lab, Tracy perched on his lap, the sharp intake of her breath as his claws slid into her ribs, puncturing her lungs. Then it wasn’t Tracy, but Liam, Liam’s body slumping over his, Liam’s eyes going blank as the life bled out of him, and it was all Theo’s fault. 

Theo didn’t realize he was crying until he reached the tree line, dropping to the ground, just out of sight of the road. He probably shouldn’t be anywhere near the forest, but he didn’t care. If the thing took him, it took him. His death would probably make Liam safer. He hugged his knees to his chest, trying to control his breathing. 

He didn’t expect anyone to follow him. Anyone on his side was on his side because of Liam, and he sure as hell didn’t think Liam would come after him. He didn’t think Scott would let him even if he wanted to. So when he heard a voice calling him, it took him by surprise. 

“Theo!” 

The chimera’s head shot up, and he swiped at his cheeks, trying to scrub the tears away. Liam was jogging down the side of the road, head swinging back and forth. 

“I can smell you, you know. I know you’re around here,” Liam said, in a slightly lower voice. All Theo could do was look at the younger man with wide, desperate eyes. 

“What are you doing here?” he croaked out, throat raw. Liam turned his head towards his voice, and slowed, moving towards the trees. Every bone in Theo’s body told him to run, to avoid whatever was about to happen, but something stronger held him in place. Liam’s eyes brightened when he saw Theo, but he frowned as he got closer, scanning his face. 

“Theo?” he asked quietly. 

Theo held up a hand, and Liam stopped in his tracks. “Just…” he sighed. “What are you doing here?” 

“I came looking for you, obviously. You kind of ran away, remember?” 

“Yeah, obviously,” Theo replied. “I mean why are you here? Why’d you follow me?”

Liam blinked. “Because I was worried about you.” 

His voice was blunt, matter of fact, as if it was a stupid question for Theo to ask. As much as he wanted it to be true, he knew it wasn’t. He clenched his fist, trying to stop himself from reaching out to Liam. He scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

A hurt expression crossed Liam’s face. 

“I was,” he said defensively. 

“Sure, whatever you say,” Theo muttered. The words had some bite behind them, and he could see Liam getting his guard up. Good. They would fight, and then Liam would leave. And he would be safer, and Theo could go back to being alone. Go back to not having to worry about all of these stupid pack dynamics, having to impress Scott because he knew Scott’s approval was important to Liam- wait. Scott. How the hell was Liam here?

His train of thought was broken by the sound of Liam’s footsteps. They were small, almost hesitant, but coming closer rather than moving away. He glanced up to see Liam taking a seat a few steps away, leaning his elbows on his thighs. 

“Will you stop being a dick for a second so we can actually talk?” The exasperation in his voice was clear, but the defensiveness was gone. Theo didn’t know what to do with that. He wanted Liam to scream at him, to tell him to get out and never come back. It would be easier that way, easier for both of them, even though the thought of being away from Liam made something inside him break. 

“I don’t know what there is to talk about,” he muttered, looking back down at the ground. 

“Jesus, Theo,” Liam groaned. He ran his hands through his hair, looking off into the distance. Theo’s eyes traced his profile, and tried to fight the words welling up in his throat. 

“You’re so fucking frustrating, you know that?” Liam continued. “You drive me crazy, and not always in a good way. You’re kind of an asshole, and you don’t talk to me about things, and you make all of these assumptions about what I’m feeling and what I need-” 

Theo blinked, and opened his mouth, but Liam gestured at him to shut up. 

“You make all of these assumptions, but did you ever think that maybe I know what’s best for me? And that it’s my life, and my emotions, and I get to make a choice?”

Theo’s heart sank, and he bit the inside of his cheek, tasting blood. He knew what was coming, and even if he thought it was the best thing for Liam, he wasn’t sure he could bear it. 

“Because I do get a choice in this, and I’m choosing you, dumbass. I’ve been choosing you, and I’m gonna keep choosing you.” 

Theo’s neck nearly snapped from how quickly he turned his head. His eyes were wide, almost fevered, and his heart was nearly beating out of his chest. Liam’s expression was steady, determined, as if he’d never been more sure of anything in his life. 

“What?” The word came out of Theo’s mouth as an exhale, as if it had been punched out of him. 

“I said I’m choosing you. If you want me, I guess.” A hint of insecurity crept into Liam’s voice, and Theo almost laughed. He would have, if there wasn’t a question burning in his chest. 

“I’m-” he cleared his throat. “I’m not a good person, Liam. I don’t know why you would-” 

“Ok, shut the fuck up,” Liam said, cutting him off. “Are you kidding me? You saved my life with the ghost riders, twice. You took Gabe’s pain when he was dying, and you didn’t even know him. You helped me figure out how to run the pack. You were there for me when Hayden died, and probably stopped me from doing something really dumb. You went on a dangerous patrol alone, just so I could get some sleep, which I’m still mad at you for, by the way. You just faced down Scott, the alpha of a pack you’ve been trying to get into for ages, because there was a slight chance I might be in danger. You’ve done some shitty things, but fuck, Theo, you’re not a bad person.” 

Theo simply stared at Liam for a moment. The other man’s face was flushed red, eyes shining with sincerity, and all Theo could think was how beautiful he was. His body reacted on instinct. He reached out for Liam, dragging him to his chest and wrapping his arms around him with a choked breath. He buried his face in the crook of Liam’s neck, breathing in his scent, as Liam’s arms came up to clutch at him, holding him so tight he thought one of his ribs might crack. 

“Plus you’re fucking hot. Don’t let it go to your head,” Liam muttered, and Theo let out a laugh that was nearly hysterical with relief. He slid his hands into Liam’s hair, pulling his face back, and kissed him. Liam kissed him back with equal desperation. They had kissed before, but never like this. There were always barriers, always walls that Theo kept erected around his heart, but now it was like they were trying to drink each other in. The salt of Theo’s tears invaded the kiss, but neither of them cared. Liam’s hair was soft under his fingers, and his body was firm where it pressed against Theo’s. For a moment, at least, all of the shit that happened over the past week was gone. 

Liam pulled back slightly. “We should probably get out of the woods,” he said, breathlessly. “It’s not safe.” 

Theo swallowed hard, eyes still fixed on Liam’s lips. He leant in once more, this time more gentle, almost reverent, and Liam sighed against his mouth. 

“Let’s go,” he agreed. His voice was hoarse. They stood up together. Theo’s legs were shaky, but he finally felt like the steps he was taking were in the right direction. 

***

“So that went well.” Malia’s voice rang out in the dead silence of the room following Theo and Liam’s departure. Next to Derek, Mason sighed heavily, running his hands through his hair. Scott, who until that moment had been staring at the door, looking defeated, turned his head to Mason. 

“That’s what he wasn’t telling me, right?” he asked in a low voice. “About him and Theo.”

Mason nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Scott, I told him he should tell you, but he didn’t know how you’d take it.” 

“I guess I can’t blame him,” Scott said, mostly under his breath. Derek could smell guilt coming off of the alpha in waves. Normally he would have said something, but it was like there was a physical division in the room, as though a wall had been built between the two factions. So he shifted uneasily, purposefully avoiding Stiles’s gaze, which was burning a hole in the side of his face. 

“So what do we do now?” Malia asked. “Just keep going with the plan?” 

Kira let out a dark laugh. “Well, we could have, if the pack was complete. We were so fucking close.” 

The kitsune’s fingers were tapping erratically against her thigh, every line of her small body tight and tense. She was staring at a wall, and barely seemed to notice when Malia laid a hand on her shoulder. 

“You don’t think it’ll work now?” Scott asked her. 

“No. The pack is incomplete. We can try, but I doubt it’ll work.”

Scott furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? The pack is still here. If I can just talk to Theo and Liam-”

“She’s right,” Derek interrupted, causing the attention in the room to be drawn to him. He grimaced. 

“How the hell does that work?” Jackson asked.

Derek let out a sigh. “Theo defied an alpha’s command. That means he doesn’t see Scott as his alpha anymore, otherwise he would have been forced to stay. Liam is still part of it, I think, but I don’t know for sure since you didn’t use a command on him.”

“Fuck,” Lydia swore under her breath. 

“But could that have something to do with Theo being a chimera?” Isaac asked from beside him. “Maybe the whole alpha thing doesn’t work on him the same way.”

“Nah, I think Theo’s a werewolf for all intents and purposes,” Mason chimed in. “At least in that way, especially after he came back from Hell. He’s got some werecoyote in him, I think, but Malia’s all coyote and a command would still work on her.” 

Derek nodded in agreement. “If he has any werewolf in him at all, his alpha would be able to command him.”

“Oh,” Scott said softly.

“Well, maybe if some people hadn’t sided with Theo, he wouldn’t have left.” Stiles’s voice cut through the air like a bite, and it was all Derek could do not to wince. “Maybe we could have talked some sense into him.”

Derek looked at Stiles for the first time since Theo and Liam left, and found the younger man staring back at him with a hard gaze. He didn’t look away, continuing to glare even when Derek looked down apologetically. Isaac, sensing his discomfort, leaned his shoulder against him. Derek reciprocated gratefully. 

“To be fair, Theo isn’t exactly the dictionary definition of sensible,” Brett said musingly. “And I don’t think ganging up on him would have worked. It’d be like cornering a wild animal, right?” 

To Derek’s right, Kira, who had been nearly stone still besides the tapping of her fingers, moved suddenly. The dark haired girl swung her jacket over her shoulders, moving aggressively towards the door. 

“Kira?” Derek asked, startled. She looked back at him, and her face softened a bit. 

“I’m going back. I need to talk to the skinwalkers.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry. I just don’t think I can do this.” 

And with that, she was out of the door. 

“Kira, wait!” Scott called desperately. When she didn’t answer, he ran outside without a second glance to the rest of the pack. 

“So….” Jackson started. Next to him, Lydia was rubbing her temples, eyes squeezed shut. “What now?”

“It’s over,” Stiles said shortly. He took a last, hard look at Derek, before shouldering the door open, stepping out into the darkening evening. Derek blinked, and followed him wordlessly, carried in Stile’s wake like a kite in a breeze. 

Stiles didn’t make for the Jeep, like Derek expected. He was halfway down the block, shoulders hunched over, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. His long legs carried him down the street in quick, purposeful steps. 

“Stiles!” Derek called after him. Stiles’s back stiffened, showing that he heard him, but his stride didn’t falter. Derek broke into a jog, catching up with him pretty quickly. He fell into step next to Stiles, eyes seeking out his face. Stiles’s jaw was clenched and tight, and his breath was coming in shallow, rapid bursts. 

“So you’re just walking out?” Derek asked, raising an eyebrow. Stiles stayed silent, which was unlike him. His eyes were trained on the ground in front of him. If Derek couldn’t sense his reactions, his heartbeat, he would have thought Stiles had no idea he was there. 

“The silent treatment. Very original,” he commented. Stiles let out a short, controlled breath through his nose. Derek’s heart rate picked up. 

“You’re mad at me,” he said, when Stiles once again refused to respond. “Tell me why.” 

“Leave me the fuck alone, Derek,” Stiles hissed through his teeth. His voice was tight and small, but Derek could sense something brewing beneath it. 

“I’ll leave you alone if you tell me what’s wrong. But I’m not letting you wander around by yourself right now without a good reason,” Derek said, digging his heels in. “It’s not safe.” 

“You’re right, it's not safe. And it's not going to be safe,” Stiles said. “You helped make sure of that.” 

Derek groaned. “Stiles, I didn’t side against you personally. I just don’t think-” 

“Don’t think what? Don’t think that we need to take every risk to get rid of this thing? That we shouldn’t try to protect people if it means we might be in danger? What?” 

Stiles’s voice was rising steadily. In the back of his mind, Derek noticed that dark was falling, quickly, and earlier than it should have for the time of year. But the sky was still clear. No clouds. 

“I don’t think we should ask people to risk their lives without it being the last option. I think you’d usually agree with that,” Derek responded. 

“Just out of curiosity, did you listen to a fucking word that I said last night? When we were talking about the nogitsune? About how this thing isn’t going to stop until we stop it?” Stiles still wasn’t looking at him, but this time his eyes were trained on the tree line of the forest in the distance. 

“Of course I was. And I’m with you and Scott and everyone else who wants to try to stop this thing. But just because I’m willing to risk my own life doesn’t mean I can ask someone else to do the same,” Derek said, voice quiet. “I’ve done enough of that in my life. With Erica and Boyd. I put them in danger, and they died. I’m not making that decision for anyone else.”

“Ok, don’t make this about your martyr complex,” Stiles snapped. Derek’s breath caught in his throat, and he nearly stopped walking. Stiles winced, and he looked at Derek for the first time. His expression was apologetic, but there was something else behind his eyes. Fear. Anger. Despair. 

“I didn’t mean that,” he said quietly. Derek nodded once, but the comment still stung. Stiles knew how losing Erica and Boyd had hurt him, held him while he sobbed after Boyd died by his claws. He knew how Derek changed his behavior because of them. And he used that against him. 

“I know,” he said roughly. The air between them was tense as the quiet stretched on. 

“Derek, this was our only chance,” Stiles said quietly, with a desperation in his voice. “Our only chance to get rid of it. Kira’s leaving, the pack is incomplete, what the hell are we supposed to do now?”

Derek rubbed his hand across his forehead, trying to wipe away the headache that was forming. “I don’t know. But we’ll think of something.” 

Stiles laughed helplessly. “Will we? How?” 

The dark was falling, and it was becoming more difficult for Derek to see Stiles’s face. His profile was just barely outlined in the faint glow of a streetlamp, and the light shone off his eyes, which were pointed back towards the woods. Derek frowned. Not only was Stiles’s face turned towards the woods, his whole body was. Not as if he was frightened of it, or thinking of the bodies found there, or the thing lurking in the trees, but as if he was about to sprint towards it. 

“Look, I appreciate you coming after me, but I really want to be alone right now,” Stiles said.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Derek replied slowly, scanning Stiles' face.

Stiles glared at him. “Derek, I’m a big boy. I can handle myself a block away from my own house.” 

“I know you can handle yourself. But…” 

Stiles turned then, whirling to face the werewolf. “But what?” 

“But you’re acting weird.” 

“I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this during our friendship, dude, but I’m kind of a weird person,” Stiles replied bluntly. 

“Not weird like that,” Derek sighed. “Weird like… well, like-”

Comprehension dawned in Stiles’s face. “Weird like when I was possessed? Is that what you’re trying to say?” 

Derek swallowed, and looked Stiles in the eye, taking a step closer to him. “Yeah.” 

Fear flickered across his expression, the taste of it acrid on Derek’s tongue. A stillness came over him, an unnatural one- Stiles was always moving in some way or another, but now he could have been mistaken for a statue. 

“So that’s what this is about,” Stiles said bitterly, mouth twisting. “You’re not worried about me. You’re worried about the Nogitsune coming back. Or something like it.” 

Derek frowned. “I’m not worried about the Nogitsune coming back, but I am worried about you. You can’t blame me for noticing a behavior pattern.” 

Stiles took a step back from him. “So why bring it up, then? If you’re not worried about me being possessed?” 

Derek just stood there. He was at a loss for words, not that he was ever good at words in the first place. He didn’t know how to put his fears into words- that even if Stiles wasn’t possessed, something was still wrong, fundamentally wrong, and he wanted to help. He could have just said that, he guessed, but he didn’t get the chance, because Stiles’s words had caught up to him again. 

“Because you know, that ‘behavior pattern’ you’ve been noticing? I have fucking PTSD, Derek,” Stiles spat. “Maybe I’m acting ‘weird’ because this whole dark entity in Beacon Hills thing feels a little too familiar. And if you thought about things for more than a second, you might realize that.” 

“Stiles-” Derek tried, but Stiles cut him off. 

“You know what I think? I think this is self preservation,” Stiles said. He was pacing at this point, running his hands through his hair. 

“Self preservation?” Derek said indignantly, finally managing to get the words out. “From what?” 

Stiles met his eyes, and his normally warm amber color was closer to a fire. A blazing one, destructive. 

“I don’t remember everything I did as the Nogitsune. It hid things from me. But it let me keep some memories,” Stiles said, slowly and deliberately. 

Derek knew what he was speaking of instantly, and his stomach dropped. Stiles saw the expression on his face, and chuckled darkly. 

“And now we get to the heart of it, right? I remember what I did to you, Derek. Every second of it.” 

Stiles’s voice was no longer angry, but pained, self loathing creeping into every syllable. The look on his face was so achingly familiar, every line in his skin a replica of how he looked during… the incident, that Derek was thrust back into it, a memory so vivid that it could have been real. 

Derek had opened his door to find Stiles standing outside. He hadn’t smelled him, which was strange, and Derek was on edge. He had a suspicion that Stiles was the Nogitsune, but it hadn’t been confirmed yet. He tried not to let on, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, the way he would normally do when Stiles showed up unannounced. 

“What?” 

Stiles grinned, warm and familiar. “What, I need a reason to show up here now?” 

Derek rolled his eyes. “I do have a life, you know. I could be busy.” 

“Are you?” 

Derek paused. “No,” he admitted. “But I could have been.” 

Stiles laughed. “Ok, big guy, sure. You gonna let me in?” 

Derek gave in, and stepped to the side. Stiles breezed past him, bumping his shoulder with his own. Derek was hit with Stiles’s scent, strong and familiar and  _ right,  _ and Derek felt his guard come down a bit. There was no way that Stiles, skinny, defenseless Stiles, was the Nogitsune. No way. 

“So what are you doing here, really?” he asked, following Stiles into the loft. Instead of flopping down on the couch, the way he normally would, long limbs sprawling in all directions, Stiles stood in the middle of the room, weight shifting from foot to foot. 

“Uh, nobody else is here, right? Creepy Peter isn’t lurking behind a wall, or something?” 

The younger man sounded nervous. Derek frowned. 

“Peter’s out. Issac is at Scott’s, I think. Why?”

“I just wanted to, uh, talk to you about something. In private.” 

Derek leaned back, resting his weight against the table behind him. “All ears. What’s up?” 

Instead of answering directly, Stiles looked him in the eye, and took a few steps towards him. The steps were slow and deliberate, and Derek’s gaze followed Stiles as he stepped closer, until he was definitely invading his personal space. Stiles was closer than Derek would let most people get to him, and his proximity was making Derek’s skin buzz. His breathing quickened, and he silently thanked whatever god was out there that Stiles wasn’t a werewolf. He couldn’t help his reaction to Stiles, he was unreasonably and unexpectedly attractive, but he didn’t want to broadcast that. 

Though, by the nearly wicked smirk that crawled across Stiles’s face, Derek thought for a moment that he could tell. 

“Look, with all the shit that’s been happening recently… I don’t know, it’s just made me think about some things,” Stiles started. 

“Right,” Derek said slowly. “Like what?” 

Stiles raised an eyebrow, moving, if possible, even closer, tilting his head slightly upward. Derek thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest. If he moved even a centimeter closer, they’d be kissing. 

“Like you, sourwolf,” Stiles said. The movement of his lips brought them perilously close to Derek’s. Stiles’s nickname for him had never sounded so sweet. 

“What about me?” he asked, his voice coming out raspy. 

The younger man’s eyes were so large that Derek could drown in them- but something was wrong. Something glinted in Stiles's eyes, something unfamiliar. Something dark. Derek swallowed. Stiles’s eyes flicked down to Derek’s lips, and something changed in his face, like a mask was falling away. 

“Huh. I thought so,” he said, almost triumphantly. Before Derek could react, something flashed in Stiles hands, and a blade slid into Derek's chest, between his ribs. He yelled, but Stiles- no, not Stiles, the Nogitsune- didn’t remove the knife. He twisted it, slowly, and something burned. 

“Stiles,” Derek groaned. “Don’t-” 

“Stiles isn’t here, Derek,” the Nogitsune said. “Well, he’s here in a sense, I suppose, but you won’t get through to him. You know that already, though. You know too much. So as much as I’d like to have you stick around, toy with this whole crush situation, you have to go.”

The Nogitsune shrugged, the blade moving with the motion. Derek could feel it in his veins- wolfsbane, clouding his mind and his senses. 

“Although… oh, it's more than a crush.” Delight spread across the Nogitsune’s face. “I mean, I could smell it on you, but… oh, this is fun.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Derek panted. If possible, the grin stretched even further across the Nogitsune’s face, a gross caricature of Stiles’s usual smile.

“You don’t know. A born wolf, Talia Hale’s own son, and you don’t even know what he is to you.” The Nogitsune shook his head. “It’s really a shame that you won’t get the chance to find out. In the meantime, though… well, I’m hungry, and I think I know just how to get a good meal out of this whole situation.”

Before Derek could respond, a visible change came over Stiles. The Nogitsune faded away, and Stiles was left, his scent rushing back in. That brought Derek comfort, even though he wasn’t sure why. Stiles blinked, shaking his head, eyes focusing in on Derek’s face. 

“Derek? What..” his voice trailed off as he spotted the knife in his hand, the blood gushing from Derek’s chest. His expression morphed into one of horror, turning ghost-white. 

“Derek!” he said. “What the- ok, ok, hold on, you’re gonna be ok, I can fix this-” 

Stiles was babbling to himself, hands shaking, as he pulled his fingers from the knife. He stared at the wound, stripping off his flannel and holding it up to staunch the blood flow. 

“Ok, you don’t take a knife out, right, it’ll just bleed more-” 

“Stiles,” Derek groaned. “Wolfsbane. Get it out.” 

“Fuck, ok, yeah, I’ve got it-” he pulled out the blade in a swift motion, and Derek whined.

“I’m gonna call Scott,” Stiles said, taking out his phone with shaking hands. Derek reached out with his own, stopping him. 

“Call Peter,” he panted. “Not Scott.” 

“Why-” realization dawned on Stiles’s face. Not realization, exactly, but recognition, of a fact that he’d been avoiding since he saw his own hands wrapped around the knife. 

“Did I do this?” he whispered, face gaunt. 

“It wasn’t… it wasn’t you,” Derek said. The effort of speaking made his head spin. The last thing he saw was Stiles’s face, pained and self loathing, until it was overtaken by black. 

When he woke up, Peter was at his side, and Stiles was gone. The next time he saw him, he wasn’t Stiles at all. 

Derek blinked up at Stiles, standing on the street. He’d fallen down, sprawled on the pavement. He groaned. The memory was so vivid, like it had been jammed forcefully into his head, or dragged to the surface, that he didn’t even remember falling. 

Stiles was staring down at him, a horrified expression on his face. A strange smell was in the air, making Derek’s nose wrinkle. It was a smell he remembered from somewhere, but he couldn’t place it. 

Stiles’s hand covered his mouth. “Derek, I’m so sorry, I don't know what just happened-” 

Derek frowned in confusion. “What do you-” 

He stopped. The smell was magic. He knew it from Jennifer. His eyes widened. 

“Did you do that?” he whispered. 

Stiles’s eyes were wide, and his face was pale. He gave a single nod. Derek tried to get to his feet, but stumbled. Stiles raised a hand. 

“Derek, stay away from me. Please. I don’t know how the fuck I just did that, but I think you need to get away.” 

Derek stopped in his tracks, staring at Stiles. There were tears running down the other man's face, and Derek’s wolf whined. He needed to get to Stiles. 

Before he could move, Stiles turned and sprinted away. Towards the woods. 

***

To Scott’s surprise, Kira was waiting for him when he got outside. She didn’t go very far, didn’t run away like he expected her to. Her whole body was tight as she stood in the backyard, having swung around the house to be out of view of the street. Her hand clutched the handle of her katana, poised over the ground, but it looked like something was holding her back. Keeping her from leaving. 

“Kira, wait!” Scott said. She turned her head slightly. He could just see her face behind the curtain of black hair obscuring it. Her shoulders slumped slightly, and she brought the katana down, resting its tip on the grass. 

“Scott,” she replied quietly. He walked over to her slowly, as if he was approaching a wounded animal. He didn’t want to scare her off- didn’t want her to leave at all. He moved until he could see her face, but stayed a safe distance away. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know that Theo leaving meant the pack was broken. I’m going to fix it.” 

Kira let out a short, soft laugh. It was disbelieving. She swallowed hard, as if it took effort, and Scott saw that her eyes were glistening. 

“Can you fix it?”

“I can try,” he said steadily. And he believed it. Scott knew he wasn’t the most intelligent person, or even the best alpha, but he believed in his pack. He always had, it was what had gotten him through the most difficult times of his life so far, and he wasn’t ready to give up on them just yet. 

He just had to get Kira to see that. 

She gave him a sad smile. “I know you’ll try. But… I don’t know. I’m starting to think the skinwalkers sent me on an impossible mission.”

“You don’t believe that,” Scott replied. Kira looked at him, an inscrutable expression on her face. Her head lowered. 

“You’re right. I don’t think it's impossible. But I do think it's impossible for me. I’m going back. I’m going to ask them to send someone else. Beg them, if I have to.” 

Scott moved a step closer. The action obviously didn’t go unnoticed by Kira, but she let it happen. 

“They sent you, right? They must think you can do this,” he said, brown eyes trained on her face. When she looked up at him, guilt overtook her expression. 

“They didn’t send me.” 

Scott stopped in his tracks. “What?” 

Kira groaned, and sat down in the grass, landing hard. She pulled her knees to her chest, and for a moment, Scott was reminded of who she was before she left. Of who she was when he first met her, scared in the face of a new danger, but brave enough to stand by them. 

“The skinwalkers didn’t send me.” Her voice was close to a whisper. Scott dropped to the ground next to her, not quite touching, but close enough that if either of them shifted, they would be. 

“They got wind of this thing, and I overheard them talking about it. I wasn’t even a part of the conversation. I’m still too new to be involved with big picture stuff. But when I heard what they were saying, what was going to happen to Beacon Hills- to all of you, I couldn’t just sit there.” 

“You volunteered?” Scott asked. From the front of the house, he heard a door slam, and two sets of footsteps. He tuned it out. The rest of the pack must be leaving. 

Kira winced. “Not exactly. I sort of… I sort of ran away.” 

Scott let out a huff of laughter. “You what?”

Kira elbowed him gently. “Shut up. I ran away. They weren’t going to send anyone. They were just going to let it happen. So I came.” 

“What about the message? You channeled it from them, right?” 

Kira nodded. “I can still communicate with them. I was already here, so they figured I might as well warn you. They wanted me to come back right away, though.”

Scott's smile faded. “Won’t you be in trouble?”

Kira shrugged. “Probably. I knew that when I left, though. It was worth the risk.” 

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “This was worth the risk.”

Scott’s heart was in his throat. All he could think of was Kira. How she looked when she was happy, how he could pick out her laugh from across the school, how much it hurt to leave her in the desert that day, not knowing if he would ever see her again. The void that replaced her spot in his heart, that no one had even come close to filling since she left. 

“Don’t go,” he blurted out. Kira blinked, startled. 

“Scott, I can’t help you guys. One of the others might be able to. I have to-” 

“Please, don’t go,” he interrupted. “You can help us. And even if you couldn’t, I…” 

He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated that he couldn’t come up with the right words. “I missed you, Kira. I missed you so much. And I know that you had to leave, I know you needed the skinwalkers help, but I’ve thought about you every day since you left. Even if you can’t help us, I still want you here.” 

He dared to look over, meeting her eyes. Without her war paint, or the fierce expression she’d been wearing ever since she arrived back in Beacon Hills, he could almost imagine they were back in high school, sitting on the benches by the lacrosse field at lunch. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was pressed into a conflicted line. 

Before he could say anything else, determination flashed across her face. She reached across the small distance, turning his face towards her, and kissed him. Scott reacted instantly, reaching for her, pulling her into his lap. Her hands were soft on his face, and he clutched at her waist. Her long hair fell around them like a curtain, shielding them from the rest of the world. 

“I’ll stay,” she murmured against his lips. Scott felt a smile break across his face. He was grinning like an idiot, he knew that, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

“Hey, I still have your tail,” he said suddenly. “The throwing star.”

Kira blinked, then burst out laughing, white teeth flashing in one of the few genuine smiles he’d seen from her since she got back. 

“You hold onto it for a while,” she said between giggles. 

***

Stiles was in the forest before he knew it, past the tree line, with Derek’s voice calling his name lingering in his ears. He didn’t think he’d ever run so quickly in his life. He hadn’t been aiming for the woods, not consciously at least, but he’d ended up there all the same. Should he leave? Probably, but he couldn’t think of facing Derek after what he just did. 

“What the hell  _ did _ I just do?” he muttered to himself, breath coming in gasps. That was the question, really. Guilt was bubbling up in his stomach, making him nauseous. He was probably on the verge of a panic attack, probably had been since he drove by the sign proclaiming that he was entering Beacon Hills, but it was really catching up to him now. 

He’d just been so  _ angry.  _ No, not angry, he thought, scared. Terrified out of his fucking mind. So when Derek tried to talk to him, reasonably, about his reasonable concerns, Stiles lashed out, like he always did when the Nogitsune was brought up. Turned the tables back on Derek, with some underhanded shot about his  _ martyr complex _ , Jesus Stiles, how low can you possibly sink? Then the memory of what he did to Derek was so strong in his mind, and Derek seemed to be ignoring it, and it was causing all of this underlying tension- he just wanted Derek to remember, so Derek would finally acknowledge that Stiles hurt him, instead of playing this concerned friend act. Even though he knew, really, that Derek was genuinely concerned. 

He wanted Derek to remember that Stiles hurt him. That he  _ (the nogitsune,  _ his mind whispered _ , not you)  _ had used a moment of intimacy against Derek, against a man with severe trust, intimacy, and consent issues, used it to hurt him, nearly kill him. He wanted Derek to remember that he was a monster. Because Stiles didn’t deserve someone as good as Derek in his life. 

So he made him remember. He wanted him to remember, so he made him remember. How did he do that? Anyone’s guess was as good as his. 

_ It takes a spark. _

Deaton’s voice rang out, as clearly as if the man was standing right behind him. He said that when Stiles used mountain ash for the first time, at the club, when they tried to trap the kanima. That it took a spark to make it work. 

But a spark of what?

_ Magic. _

The answer was so obvious, Stiles thought. His feet continued to carry him into the woods, deeper and deeper, towards the heart of it, without his realization or instruction. So obvious, how could he not have seen it before? 

_ Deaton knew. And he didn’t tell you. How were you supposed to know? _

The voice in his head sounded like his own, and it made sense. If no one told him, how was he supposed to know that he had magic? He could have been using it all of those years, to help his pack, if Deaton had just told him what he was. He could have used it against the Nogitsune, even. 

He was deep in the woods now, deeper than he had ever gone before. 

_ But the magic was what drew the Nogitsune to you in the first place, Stiles. _

Stiles stopped in his tracks, a brief moment of clarity breaking through the fog clouding his mind. 

“Where the hell am I?” he muttered. He was hearing a voice. That definitely wasn’t good. 

There was a clearing ahead of him. He took a step towards it, amber eyes searching in the dark for a familiar landscape. His blood ran cold. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. 

The shadows in the clearing weren’t from the trees. 

“ Pinčiukas,” he whispered, breath leaving his lungs like he’d been punched. 

_ Hello, Mieczyslaw Stilinski. I’ve been waiting for you. _

Normally, Stiles would at least consider doing something stupid. Something like running into the clearing, trying to use his newfound spark to defeat Pinčiukas single handedly. But Derek’s face swam in his mind, and he turned on his heel and ran. 

It was a valiant attempt, but a futile one. The creature sprung from the shadows, reforming directly behind him. Stiles tried to run, tried to go faster, but he tripped. His glasses fell off of his face, shattering, and Pinčiukas pinned him down. But it wasn’t the shadow creature that Theo had described. Stiles was looking up at his own face. 

Not his own face. Void. 

He tried to put on a brave face. He knew it wasn’t working, but he tried. “What do you want from me?” 

The voice that came out of the creature’s mouth was smooth and slithering. 

_ The same thing the fox wanted. It almost drained you, you know. Almost used you up. But there’s still something there. A spark.  _

It leaned in closer, until its eyes, pupils blown wide, were all that Stiles could see. 

_ And I can turn that spark into a fire.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter got away from me! I did not plan for it to be this long, but here's about 8,000 words of pure angst for you all to start off the new year. This was a beast, but very fun to write. I hope you guys enjoy! As always, thanks to everyone who leaves kudos and comments, they keep me writing!


	8. Chapter 8

Derek was growing desperate. He made his way along the treeline, searching out Stiles’s scent, but the scent had vanished as quickly as Stiles himself had, fading into the shadows cast by trees. Was he using his magic to disguise his scent? To hide himself? Did he even know how to do that? Derek was disoriented still from the memory Stiles had shoved so vividly into his mind, part of him feeling trapped in the past, making it difficult to distinguish what he needed to do next. 

Derek was just beginning to steel himself to dive into the forest himself, to seek Stiles out blindly if he needed to, when he heard footsteps in the distance. His head snapped around, but it was two sets of footsteps, not one. Theo and Liam emerged, walking hand in hand down the street. They looked shaken, both of them, and Theo looked up warily when he saw Derek. Derek didn’t really care about what happened with the pack at that moment, or whether Theo was still a part of it- he just needed to find Stiles. 

He ran over to the two of them, and from the look on Liam’s face, he must appear just as wild as he felt. 

“Derek? What’s wrong?” the younger wolf asked. 

“It’s Stiles. He went into the woods. I can’t- I can’t catch his scent,” Derek said. His voice sounded raw even to his own ears. 

Liam’s eyes widened, and he and Theo exchanged a glance. 

“Please. Help me look for him.” Derek was bordering on begging at this point. 

“Go start looking,” Liam said to Theo. “I’ll find Scott, have him get the others.”

Theo nodded, squeezing Liam’s hand. “Be careful.”

“You too.” 

Liam sprinted off, back towards Scott’s, and Theo turned to Derek. The two of them began searching, making their way cautiously into the treeline. Derek hadn’t really interacted with Theo before, not without others around, but he felt a strange sense of camaraderie with the chimera. Theo seemed to recognize the desperation in Derek, as though he’d felt it himself, and went along with the search without question. 

Scott caught up to them at one point, asking Derek what happened. Derek answered as best he could. He wondered briefly if he should tell Scott about the magic, but he didn’t know how to broach the subject without requiring an hour long conversation, which they didn’t have the time for. Scott split off after that, and the pack fanned out. 

They’d been searching for an hour before Derek found something. He heard a crunch under his foot, and looked down to see Stiles’s glasses beneath his boot. The lenses were shattered, glass littering the ground around them, and the frame was twisted. He picked them up, hands trembling in spite of himself. 

“What-” Theo said, falling silent at the sight of the glasses. The chimera had stayed with him for the duration of the search. “Shit.” 

Something bubbled up in Derek’s chest, fighting to escape. The roar tore its way out of his throat, ripping it raw as it did, he could hear the rest of the pack running, converging on his position, but he couldn’t wait for them. Without thinking, he shifted, fur bursting from his skin, bones reshaping. Theo cursed behind him, and then Derek was running. 

His paws beat down on the earth below, nose desperately searching out his mate’s scent. His thoughts were no longer human, not entirely. He ran on instinct, following a path that was as much a mystery to him as it would be to anyone else. The pack tried to follow, but he was faster than any of them, even Scott. He outpaced them quickly, and ran. 

He didn’t know how long he ran for, or how far he got. He wasn’t aware of anything until he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. He howled, alerting the rest of them to his location, and followed it. He had barely run a mile before he came upon Stiles. He nearly ran into him. 

“Holy shit!” Stiles cursed. Derek leapt on him with more force than he meant to, knocking him to the ground. He whined, nudging his nose into Stiles’s neck, breathing in the scent of mate, his mate, alive, safe. 

“Hey, sourwolf, you’re kind of crushing me here,” Stiles groaned. 

The wolf didn’t care, but Derek did. He forced himself to pull back, shifting back to his human form. Stiles averted his eyes, a red blush on his cheeks. 

“Jeez, buy a guy dinner first,” he joked. 

Derek looked down. “Oh. Sorry.” 

Stiles unbuttoned his flannel, tossing it to Derek. “Here. You can wear it like a kilt or something.” 

Derek tied it around his waist. It wasn’t much, but it hid what it needed to. He couldn’t really bring himself to care about that, anyway. His eyes were roving over Stiles, checking for injuries. He wanted to touch him, run his hands over his pale skin, reassure himself that Stiles was here, and whole, but after what happened he thought it might not be welcome. So he kept his distance. 

“Are you ok?” he asked, voice hoarse. “I found your glasses, and I couldn’t track you-” 

Stiles closed the distance between them, laying a tentative hand on Derek’s shoulder. Derek wanted to lean into the touch, but stopped himself, 

“I’m ok,” Stiles said softly. “I’m sorry. I think I hid my scent. I don’t really know how.” 

He cast a glance behind Derek. “I heard howling. That was you? Are the others coming?” 

Derek nodded. 

“Derek-” Stiles started, then stopped, chewing on his bottom lip. “Please don’t tell Scott. About…”

“The magic,” Derek muttered. 

“Yeah. Please.” 

Derek didn’t think he was in any position to deny Stiles anything, the relief at finding him alive so overpowering that there was nothing Stiles couldn’t ask for that he wouldn’t have granted. But something called from the back of his mind, a suspicion that he couldn’t shake. 

_ Something’s wrong.  _

Derek tried to push it down. 

“Hey,” Stiles said softly. “I’m really sorry. About what I did.”

“Why did you do it?” Derek asked. “And why don’t you want me to tell Scott?” 

Stiles fidgeted, the movement a welcome sight after how still the other man had been during their last encounter. 

“I… I’m not sure. To either of those questions,” he admitted. “I was pissed off, and I guess it came out as… whatever I did. I don’t want Scott to know yet because he’s going to worry. And he doesn’t need to. This isn’t exactly a priority.”

Stiles’s voice became more sure of itself as he went on. 

“Look, it's your decision, and I won’t take it out of your hands,” Derek said quietly. “But hiding stuff from Scott generally isn’t a great idea. And he should have all the information.” 

“I’ll tell him, just not now. I need to figure out the best way to do it,” Stiles said. Derek frowned. 

“Stiles, you’re Scott’s best friend. He’s going to be ok with it.” 

Stiles grimaced, eyes flickering as old memories played in his head. “Last time something like this happened, Scott kicked me out of the pack. Theo was involved, manipulating or whatever, but… I still want to do this right. Please, give me the chance to do this my way.”

Derek nodded reluctantly. “Ok.”

Stiles broke out into a grin at that, so familiar and relieved that Derek could have kissed him. Wanted to kiss him. He was realizing that wanting to kiss Stiles might be a permanent part of his existence now. 

“Shit, I forgot to tell you-” Stiles started, but they were interrupted by the pounding of feet behind Derek as the pack swarmed into the clearing. Scott was the first one in, grabbing Stiles by the arms and examining him for injuries. 

“Dude, are you ok?” he demanded. Stiles groaned affectionately, swatting Scott’s shoulder. 

“Yes, I’m fine. We need to get the fuck out of the woods, though,” he said. His voice trembled a bit, and Derek could see Scott pick up on it. The alpha frowned in concern. 

“Did something happen?” 

Stiles stole a glance at Derek, then tapped his fingers along his thigh. “I saw it.”

The cold silence that came over the clearing was nearly unbearable. 

“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here,” Issac said. Derek almost jumped out of his skin. The beta had appeared out of thin air directly next to him. Derek guessed it spoke to how distracted he was by Stiles that he didn’t even notice Isaac’s appearence. Despite the gravity of the situation, Isaac still found a way to look amused. Derek realized he was still wearing only Stiles’s flannel, tied around his waist. He heaved a sigh. He wouldn’t be hearing the end of that from Isaac for a long time, he imagined. 

The pack made their way back through the woods. It took longer this time than when Derek was running on his own. They had Stiles in tow now, and he wasn’t as fast as a wolf. Lydia and Jackson had been left back at the house originally, since Lydia would slow them down. 

Derek shifted back to a wolf, not totally comfortable with being nearly exposed to the rest of the pack for that prolonged period of time. He trotted by Stiles’s side. When night began to fall, and the darkness spread, Stiles wound his fingers through Derek’s fur. He preened internally, pleased at the concept of providing for his mate. 

By the time they made it back, it was late. Stiles’s father was home, and Derek could see Stiles wince from the corner of his eye. 

“Does he know what happened?” Stiles whispered to Scott. The alpha sent him an apologetic look. 

“I’m sorry, dude.”

Stiles groaned, running his free hand through his hair. “It’s ok, I’m probably just in for a lecture.” 

Sure enough, Sheriff Stilinski was waiting at the door as they all walked up. Derek, not wanting to walk through the street in wolf form, split off from the rest of them, to get to the backyard. He then realized he was going to have to make the trek to Stiles’s room, where his clothes were stored, in the nude. The concept wasn’t appealing. 

He was steeling himself to shift back when Scott appeared at the door with a bundle of clothes. He smiled, grin lopsided. 

“I thought you might want these,” he said, sliding the glass door open. “If you go behind that bush, the neighbors can’t see you.”

Derek took the advice, Scott tossing the clothes to him when he shifted back. 

“Thanks,” Derek said. “How do you know about the bush?” 

Scott laughed. “Uhh, a few years back, Allison and I-” 

Derek held up his hand. “I don’t want to know.” 

Scott shrugged. “Probably for the best.” 

There was a lingering sadness in Scott’s eyes, one that always appeared when he mentioned Allison, even though years had gone by. It was a sadness Derek knew intimately- it was how Laura always said he looked when he talked about Paige. 

“So, Stiles is getting an earful from his dad,” Scott said. “Supernatural crisis or not, I think we’re gonna be waiting a minute. So I was wondering if I could ask you something.” 

Derek raised an eyebrow. He had finished dressing, and made his way over to the back porch. 

“Sure.” 

Scott scratched the back of his neck. “I think I need to fix things with Theo, but… honestly, I’m not sure how. I-” 

He glanced back into the house, looking to see if anyone was eavesdropping on the conversation. In a house full of supernatural hearing, it was an honest worry. Luckily, the sheriff's voice was rising, which probably blocked out their own voices. 

“I don’t really like the guy. But Liam trusts him, and I do trust Liam. You said he doesn’t view me as his alpha anymore?” 

“That would be my guess,’ Derek said, sitting down on one of the steps. “Either he doesn’t anymore, or he never did. Have you ever been able to command him?” 

Scott frowned. “I don’t know. I don’t do that a lot.” 

Derek let out an exasperated, but fond, breath. “Of course you don’t.” 

“Should I be?” 

“No, I don’t think so. You could, but it's obvious that your pack follows you because they want to, not because they’re forced to. That’s important. They trust you without the use of commands.” 

Scott sat down next to him, landing heavily. “I’m just not sure what to do. Theo and I really don’t have much in common, besides Liam. I don’t know how to get through to him. I wouldn’t- I’m not putting people at risk unnecessarily. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do that.”

Scott’s voice was plaintive and honest, making it clear that he’d regretted what he said to Theo and the rest of them. Derek reached out a hand cautiously, and rested it on Scott’s shoulder. He leaned into the touch. 

“Well, you could try telling him that,” Derek suggested.

“Do you think that would be enough to get him back into the pack?” Scott asked. 

Derek took a moment before he spoke again. “I think Theo’s wanted a pack for a long time. From what Stiles told me, anyway. I doubt he’d give up on this one so easily. He was scared for Liam. The idea of losing your mate is… terrifying.” 

His last words were quiet, but Scott picked up on them anyway. 

“They’re mates?” he asked, slightly incredulous. “How can you tell?” 

_ Shit, _ Derek thought. That skill wasn’t one that he wanted Scott to know, at least not yet. Not until he could tell Stiles. 

“It’s a smell thing,” he said. “I’ll show you. When all this is over.”

Scott gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks, man.” 

He paused. 

“It’s really good to have you back. We all missed you. There’s no pressure, but if you wanted to come back after all this is over, you could.”

A lump rose unexpectedly in Derek’s throat. He managed to choke out a thanks, but not much else. 

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about coming back to Beacon Hills. He had. More times than he could count. There was a part of him that thought, even though he knew he’d be welcomed back, that he wouldn’t fit. He’d be a piece of the wrong puzzle, that looks right but doesn’t have a place. 

As he and Scott moved back inside, he caught a glimpse of Stiles. The younger man caught Derek’s eye over his father’s shoulder, sending silent S.O.S. signals. Something inside of him settled, a part that had been roaming for far too long. 

Maybe he would stay. Maybe he could fit here again. 

***

Liam was hovering. He knew he was, but he couldn’t stop himself. He was thrumming with nervous energy, glancing back and forth between Scott and Theo. He hated this, hated being torn between Scott and Theo. Scott was his alpha, but Theo was… something different. He made his choice, chose Theo, and he didn’t regret it, but that knowledge didn’t make this tension any easier. 

He was so distracted that he’d tuned out most of Stiles’s recount of his encounter with  Pinčiukas. He swore internally. He’d have to have Theo fill him in later, save him from the embarrassment of admitting that he wasn’t listening. 

“How did you get away?” he heard Malia ask skeptically. 

Stiles shrugged. “I just ran. Same as Theo, when he saw it.” 

Stiles gestured to the chimera. 

“Maybe it still isn’t coming out of the woods?” Brett chimed in. 

“He was still in the woods, dumbass. That doesn’t explain it,” Jackson sniped from his place beside Lydia. She swatted him on the arm. 

“Jeez, just a thought,” Brett muttered. He leaned in to whisper something in Mason’s ear. Mason stifled a laugh, eyes darting to Jackson. The other man glared at them. 

“Maybe Stiles wasn’t an appealing meal,” Isaac said. He was leaning up against a wall, next to Derek. 

“I would be a delicious meal, I’ll have you know,” Stiles retorted. “But regardless of how I got away, I did. But… I don’t know, it felt like it was waiting for something.” 

“Waiting for what?” Scott asked. Liam looked at Scott out of the corner of his eye, not turning his head. Theo leaned his shoulder against Liam’s, and Liam leaned back gratefully. Theo was tense too.

“I’m not sure,” Stiles admitted, “but I think there’s a reason it isn’t coming after us directly yet. Not because it’s weak, but biding its time.” 

“So we have a chance,” Lydia spoke up. “If it’s waiting, we shouldn’t sit around to find out what it’s waiting for. We need to make a move, soon.” 

She spoke with utmost certainty, a tone that was usual for Lydia. 

Mason shifted in his seat. “Uh, not to bring up the elephant in the room, but can we make a move?” 

His question hung in the air, and Liam felt Theo tense as most of the eyes in the room turned to look at him. After a beat, Scott stood up. He shot a glance at Derek, who gave him a small nod. 

“I think I need to talk to Theo and Liam,” Scott said. “If you guys don’t mind.”

Liam shot to his feet instantly, and Theo let out an amused huff next to him. He stood up as well, albeit more reluctantly. 

“Let’s get this over with,” he muttered. 

The three of them walked into the kitchen. With a house full of werewolves, they may as well have had the conversation in the living room, but it gave them a semblance of privacy that Liam knew Theo would appreciate. 

Scott fixed the two of them with a steady stare. 

“I have some things to say,” he started. Liam could feel Theo getting ready to retort, and elbowed him in the side. Scott’s mouth quirked up in a quick grin that vanished as soon as it appeared. 

“First, I’m sorry for using a command on you,” he said to Theo. “That’s not how I do things, and not how I wanted that to play out. Second, I want you to know that I’d never force anyone to take part in this. If either of you, or anyone else, want out, I won’t make you risk your lives. Just because I’d do it, doesn’t mean I expect you to.” 

He’d obviously been rehearsing this in his head, as he said it all within one breath. His shoulders slumped. 

“I wasn’t being a good alpha earlier, and I’m sorry. It’s my fault that the pack is broken, and I want to try to fix that.”

Theo was stone still at Liam’s side. He could tell he wouldn’t be speaking anytime soon, so Liam spoke instead. 

“I’m sorry too,” he said. “I should have told you about me and Theo earlier, and I shouldn’t have stormed out.” 

Scott nodded, then turned to Theo. 

“Look, man, I know we’ve had problems-” 

“That’s an understatement,” Theo scoffed. 

“-but Liam trusts you, and that’s good enough for me. Will you come back?” 

Liam felt a glimmer of hope rising in his chest. Maybe he wouldn’t have to choose between Theo and the pack after all. He turned to Theo, eyes scanning his face. The chimera glanced at him, and sighed. 

“Yeah, yeah. Fine. Yes. But I’m doing this for Liam, not you.”

Scott grinned. “So am I.” 

The alpha hesitantly stepped towards Theo. Theo tensed, but remained in place as Scott placed a hand on the back of his neck. Marking him. Theo released a breath as Scott pulled away, and an understanding passed between the two of them. 

Scott turned to Liam then, and Liam wrapped his arms around Scott. Something settled inside him, a feeling of completeness. Everything was out in the open now, no more secrets. He could have Theo and the pack. 

They released each other, and started to make their way back into the living room. Liam stopped for a moment, tugging Theo’s hand. 

“Thank you,” he said. 

Theo gave him a grudging, but fond, smile. “Don’t read into it, weirdo. Maybe this is all part of my dastardly plan.” 

Liam grinned. As they walked into the living room, Theo fished something out of his pocket. 

“Stilinski, heads up,” he called, tossing the item to Stiles. Stiles caught it, but just barely. 

“Where did you find these?” he asked incredulously, looking at the glasses in his hand. 

“Derek found them. And stepped on them,” Theo said. Derek shot him a glare. 

“Damn it. I can’t see for shit,” Stiles said. “You’re all very blurry, just FYI.”

A laugh went up around the room. 

“So are you guys good now?” Lydia asked, examining her nails. “Not all of us have supernatural hearing.” 

“Yeah, we’re good,” Scott said. “Theo’s back in the pack. And listen, I told this to them, but I can’t ask any of you to risk your lives with this. It’s going to be dangerous. So if anyone wants out, just say so. I won’t judge you.”

There was a beat of silence, but no one moved to leave. Scott’s grin was huge and full of pride. 

“Ok. Then let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's been a minute since I updated! I started a new job and haven't had a lot of time to focus on writing, so this one is a bit shorter than usual. Regardless, hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!


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